Frozen Desires (Asylums for Magical Threats) (25 page)

grateful to be free, there had to be loads that Petra wasn’t telling her, and that made her uncomfortable.

Ten minutes before the check-in station closed, she handed over her fake ID card and waited. She knew

that having one made in less than a day would cost a small fortune, which told her that this person they

were going to help meant a great deal to Petra.

After clearing the check-in process, they found their cabin. It was small, with two sets of bunks attached to the wall and a small toilet en suite off to the side. There was barely enough room for her to lay down on the floor, but at least it was an inside cabin and they didn’t have to worry about someone peeking into a

window. While she was pretty sure they were in the clear, there was always a risk that Larsen or someone

he knew could’ve followed them.

Tossing her stuff on the bottom right bunk, Millie crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against

the top bunk. “Right. We made it, so now it’s time to talk.”

Petra tossed her stuff on the top left bunk and laid down on the bottom one. “There are limits to what

I’ll tell you, but go ahead, ask me some questions.”

“First, where is this research facility we’re supposed to break into?”

“Hong Kong.”

Millie kept her face expressionless despite her curiosity. She knew the locations of most of the AMT

compounds, but she knew very little about the special standalone research facilities. “Do I need to ask

specific, in detail questions? Or can you just tell me the general gist of this place, its purpose, and anything else I might find relevant.”

Petra looked up at her. “And here I thought you knew everything.”

“Just tell me already, Brandt. We have seventeen hours on this bloody ferry, and I, for one, would like

to get some sleep before our little adventure.”

Petra stared up at the bunk above her. “My friend has spent the last year working in a high-rise research

facility run by the AMT Oversight Committee. He’s been trying to find a way to eradicate elemental magic.”

Millie’s eldest brother, Garrett, had spent the last five years imprisoned inside the AMT. Her other

brother, Jaxton, had only rescued him recently, alongside Kiarra Melini. Garrett and Kiarra still bore the scars of the torture and experimentation the AMT researchers had conducted on them. She had yet to see

her oldest brother, but according to Jax, Garrett couldn’t stand to be touched or he’d start thrashing to the point of hurting himself and others. Pain squeezed her heart at thinking of how Garrett, the brother that had always coaxed away her tears as a child, might not ever recover.

She clenched a fist and narrowed her eyes. Since Petra probably didn’t know about her brother’s

escape, she focused on Kiarra’s mental and physical scars. “So you want me to help the bastards that treated my friend as a guinea pig?”

“You promised to help me, remember.”

She clenched her jaw and took a few deep breaths. If she couldn’t get free, she couldn’t help Garrett,

plain and simple. Until she came up with another escape plan, she needed to work with Petra and not tear

her to shreds.

When she had her temper under control again, she said, “So why does this person need you to swoop in

and save his arse? He chose to work with those people, and should’ve known the risks of working there

ahead of time.”

“He did know the risks, but there was no way he could’ve foreseen what happened to him.”

Curiosity started to overpower her anger. “And what, pray tell, happened to him?”

Petra continued to stare above her, and Millie wished she could see her eyes. “One day, his own latent

ability emerged.”

“Let me get this straight. The man who had been working to eradicate elemental magic developed his

own type of magic, and now he’s being given a dose of his own medicine?” Millie shook her head. “If I

believed in karma, I’d say she was a bitch.”

Petra rolled off the bed and stood opposite her. “Listen, you agreed to help me. I didn’t ask for your

opinions or commentary. You’re here to do your job, and that’s all.”

“I can say whatever I bloody well please. This person may be your friend, but if you don’t want him to

know that you’re alive, then you need me. So deal with it, or find somebody else.”

Petra took a step closer, her eyes flashing. “Without me, you’d still be a prisoner. And I can easily call up Larsen and tell him where you are, and then ditch you. Once Larsen has you, I won’t have to worry

about you telling my brother or his boss anything because Giovanni Sinclair wants to keep you hidden from

the world.”

“What? Why?”

Petra shook her head. “No, I’m not telling you anything until this assignment is complete. Once this

rescue mission is a success, I’ll tell you some details, but not before.”

Petra had the upper hand, at least for the moment. Millie might not have much of a choice in the matter,

but she wasn’t going to just blindly agree to do anything. “Fine. But listen closely, because if I find out that this friend of yours did anything—
anything
—to hurt innocent first-borns, I don’t care who he is or what past you two had together, I will find a way to make him atone for his wrongs.”

“Will may be many things, but he always tries to make the best decisions he can with the information

that’s provided to him.”

Okay, that sounded like this Will had been misled over the years.

Petra had turned away from her, and was now rummaging through her pack, probably to find the

concealed gun Millie knew she had in her luggage. “So that signals the end of our conversation? What

about logistics? Or tactics? I’m not about to go into this blind, Petra Brandt.”

Petra turned with a file in her hand and held it out. “Here. Review this.”

She took it. There had to be at least a hundred pages in the file. “This is going to take a bit to go

through.”

“Consider it a ’welcome to the job’ present. You can go through it while I take a nap.”

She watched as Petra curled up on the bottom bunk, slid her gun under the pillow, and closed her eyes.

Petra mumbled, “And don’t try anything. I’m a light sleeper, much like you are.”

“I won’t try anything as long as you don’t.”

“Sounds good to me.” Then Petra snuggled into the blanket and went still.

Right, time to get to work.

Millie searched through the files until she found the profile pages about the man they were going to

help. Apparently, the bloke who’d recently discovered his latent ability was named Dr. William Evans.

Millie continued to read, curious to find out how this man was connected to Petra.

Chapter Thirty

The man carrying Cam shifted her weight so he could open the door to a small, windowless room.

Once he laid her on the bed against the wall, he said, “I’ll bring you some drinks to help you rehydrate. The last thing I need is for you to die.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“I can’t tell you. But take a bit of advice—just do what they ask, and your life will be a hell of a lot

easier.”

“I’m guessing you aren’t here by choice either.”

The man remained silent, which told her all she needed to know. Cam decided that this man hadn’t

completely crossed over to the dark side. Maybe, just maybe, she could get him to recognize it. “There are ways out of this, you know.”

The man snorted. “Sure, tell yourself that. You have no idea what you’re talking about. Forget

everything you thought you knew about our world because the Collector doesn’t follow any laws—human

or
Feiru
. She makes her own, and given her army, no one is about to mess with that.”

Cam knew she didn’t have much more time. This man seemed to think the Collector was invincible, but

he clearly hadn’t heard of Neena Chatterjee.

The best she could do was plant a seed of doubt. “This Collector might be powerful, but I bet I know

someone who is more so.”

The man shook his head. “Do you think you’re the first person to try to bluff your way free?” He turned

toward the door. “Enjoy your optimism, because I assure you it won’t last.”

He exited the room without another word, and locked the door behind him.

While she hoped that she’d stoked the man’s curiosity, she’d also had time to memorize his features—

dark hair, tan skin, an intricate tattoo on his neck. All of those things might help, if she could ever fall asleep deep enough to dream and contact Neena. If there was anyone who could stand up to the Collector

and her army, it was Neena Chatterjee.

After all, the DEFEND co-leader had her own army at her command.

Cam had also succeeded in distracting the man who’d carried her, and he hadn’t noticed that her claws

were still extended. It hurt like hell to have them out for so long, but she instinctively knew that if she retracted them, she wouldn’t be able to extend them again of her own free will until the formula

suppressing her abilities wore off.

The sound of rain started to beat against the hull, followed by the boat pitching up and then back down.

She willed her stomach to behave—it was easier to do on an empty stomach—and wished she had a

window in her room so she could see outside. When she’d been out on deck not five minutes ago, the sky

had been bright blue and cloud-free.

Wait a minute. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but maybe Marco hadn’t abandoned her after all.

The only way to ascertain if he’d come or not was to get to a window or balcony, and see if the storm was

only something an elemental first-born could create.

Cam closed her eyes a second to gather her last vestiges of strength. If she met someone while trying to

get to a window or balcony, she was fucked, plain and simple. But anything was better than her lying here

helpless and wondering “what if.”

She opened her eyes and slid off the bed. She crept to the door and listened, but all she heard, apart

from the rain, was the slow creaking of the boat rising and falling with the water.

Good enough.
She couldn’t be a hundred percent sure there was no one in the hall, but she’d take her chances.

She focused on her next obstacle—the locked door. It had a sideways-extended handle and an insert for

a physical key. She put one of her claws into the small space between the door and the door frame, held her breath to make sure there wasn’t anyone walking down the hall, and then cut through the lock bar with a

small clicking sound.

She counted to ten, and then gently eased the door open. The hall was empty.

Leaning heavily against the wall, Cam scanned for the nearest life ring and emergency kit, and saw one

at the far end of the corridor.

Using the wall to remain upright, she slowly made her way toward the emergency kit station. All of the

other doors she passed were closed, but she’d deal with breaking into one after she had something to keep

her afloat.

While the ship was a little less steady than when she’d arrived, thankfully, it hadn’t jolted again since

she’d left her room. She reached the kit station and carefully unhooked the life ring and grabbed the small emergency kit. She had no idea what was inside the bag, but there was bound to be something she could

use.

Now, all she needed to do was to find a balcony or a window.

All of the sudden, the floor jolted under her feet, and she fell to her knees.

Her insides were a mess, and the exaggerated rocking was not helping matters. But she was nothing if

not determined.

Cam laid on her stomach and started to crawl along the floor. There were noises and shouting coming

from up above.

The boat rocked hard to the left, and she crashed against the wall. No doubt the crew would be coming

downstairs any minute. She needed to find somewhere to hide.

She eyed the closest room and doubled her efforts, using her claws to help pull herself along the floor.

As the boat continued to pitch, Cam was grateful that there was nothing left in her stomach.

She finally made it to a door, reached up, and turned the handle.

The door swung open on the next pitch, and she tumbled into the room.

After crashing into the bunk at the far end, small pinpricks of light dotted her vision. She shook her

head and blinked until she could focus. While the room was dim, there was light coming from a sliding

glass door next to the bed. If she could just make it to the door, she could try to escape.

Dragging herself across the floor, Cam reached the door just at the boat rolled dangerously to one side.

This time she slammed into the glass door, hitting her left elbow against the glass. She sucked in a breath at the pain, but it would pass. She could move all of her limbs, so nothing was broken. A better assessment

would just have to wait.

As the boat slowly righted, she moved her hand up to the latch and flicked the lock on the glass door.

She gave a tug, and nearly whooped when it opened.

Now that the door was open, she could see why the room had been so dim—not only was rain coming

down in sheets, there was also snow, hail, and crashing waves. But the odd thing was that it looked clear

and calm a few miles away.

She heard a voice and glanced over her shoulder to see the man who’d carried her earlier standing in

the doorway, gesturing with his hands to come inside.
No way in hell.
The odd weather, combined with the calm waters in the distance, all pointed to one thing—Marco was using his Elemental Master skills.

She could be wrong, but as the ship rocked far enough that she could jump from the balcony and

possibly hit the sea, she made the split-second decision to slide the life ring down around her middle, wrap the strap of the emergency kit around her wrist, and with one last deep breath, jumped over the railing.