Nightingale (38 page)

This time I believed him.

“It’s your choice,” Octavia said. “Now make it.”

Chapter Thirty

I drew in a deep breath. “All right. I’ll tell you where the flash drive is. There’s no need to torture me.”

Octavia smiled. “I always thought you were reasonable.”

I dropped my head and edged toward her, as if I was totally beaten. It was such a Rascal thing to do, looking defeated and begging for sympathy before springing into action. Octavia smirked at Bandit. I tightened my grip on my flimsy weapons.

“Well?” Octavia demanded. “Where is it? Where have you hidden the drive?”

I raised my head and looked into her cold, merciless eyes. “Up your ass, bitch.”
 

I brought my hand up and rammed the lip pencil into her right shoulder. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but I put plenty of force behind it. The pencil punctured her arm, sinking into her flesh. Coppery blood spurted out from the wound, and the odor of sulfur intensified as the euphoridon seeped into Octavia’s system.

Octavia screamed. I snapped the pencil off and stabbed her arm again with the broken tip. Bandit cursed and raised his gun. I grabbed Octavia’s shoulders, spun her around, and shoved her into the ubervillain. Then, I popped the top off the face powder I’d swiped and blew into it as hard as I could. A cloud of euphoridon crystals erupted from the container. Bandit cursed as the powder flooded his eyes. He banged into Octavia, and the two of them fell to the floor.

“Get her!” Octavia screamed. “Get that bitch!”

I dropped the face powder, turned, and ran.

#

I sprinted through the lab as fast as I could. For once, I didn’t even think about the sandals pinching my feet. If I did that, I’d slow down, and then, I’d be dead.

A door was at the far end of the room. I sprinted toward it, slammed my hand into the bar, barged through the opening, and kept going. Bullets banged into the closing door. A few pieces of hot lead pierced the metal and
pinged!
down the hall after me. I screamed and kept running.
 

I went through two more long, narrow rooms, both containing more makeup counters and scientific equipment, before my legs couldn’t run anymore. I slowed to a shuffle and listened for jangling, booted footsteps behind me. I didn’t hear any, but I kept moving, determined to put as much space between me, Bandit, and Octavia as possible.

I went through another door and found myself in a gray hallway. I went right and came to another branch. I zigged and zagged through the underground maze, going right and right, then left, left, left, trying to take the least logical route possible so Bandit wouldn’t find me. I saw another door, went through it, and emerged into what looked like a basement. Lots of metal walls. Lots of concrete beams. Lots of cardboard boxes. No weapons. No way out.

I couldn’t go back and risk running into Bandit, so I moved farther into the basement. The
yips
and
yaps
of the animals I’d heard before grew louder. The sounds tugged at my heart, but I pushed the feeling aside. I couldn’t help the poor creatures right now. I could barely help myself.
 

I turned a corner, and my gaze snagged on a red box—a fire alarm. I didn’t know if it would do any good, but I yanked the alarm. Sirens blared, reverberating through the building. I winced at the noise. Maybe I could run or hide until the fire department arrived.
 

I limped along, my eyes sweeping over everything. It was dark here, with only a few weak bulbs flickering on the concrete walls, but the lack of light didn’t bother me. With my enhanced eyesight, I could see as clearly as if it were noon. Piper was right. I was going to do great things with my supersenses—like save myself.
 

I spotted a bit of color ahead and picked up my pace. An
Exit
sign glowed red about two hundred feet away. A sweet, sweet
Exit
sign.

I’d just touched the door when the fire alarm quit blaring. The sudden, abrupt silence made my head spin. Bandit must have told building security it was just a false alarm. He’d probably called the fire department too, which meant no one would be coming to help. Damn.

I shoved open the
Exit
door, and a flight of stairs greeted me. I started climbing. Up, up, up, as fast as I could. My sandals rang on every step, the sound echoing to the top of the stairwell and back down. I didn’t care how loud I was being or how much the noise hurt my aching head. Seven flights later, I spotted a door marked
Lobby
.

I didn’t barge through this door as I had the others because I had a sneaking suspicion Bandit and Octavia would be waiting for me on the other side. They might have lost me in the labyrinth of underground chambers, but they knew I’d try to find a way out and that I’d head up to the lobby. If I were them, that’s where I’d be waiting.

So, I climbed up another flight of stairs to the first floor. I put my ear to the door, but I couldn’t hear anything over my own ragged breathing. Bandit could be waiting on the other side, gun pointed, his finger on the trigger. I couldn’t tell, not even with my supersenses. I’d just have to risk it.

Putting my hand on the bar, I cracked open the door and winced as it squeaked. I slipped through. The door whispered shut behind me, but it sounded as loud as a drum to my ears. I moved away from it.
 

Much like the Weston building, the first few floors of Oomph’s headquarters wrapped around an open lobby. Three staircases set equidistance apart from each other led to the upper floors. Potted palms, fichus trees, and other greenery decorated the lobby itself, while a pair of red lips about a hundred feet wide dangled from the ceiling near the elevator bank. The lips swung ever so slightly, the cable holding them to the ceiling groaning with every movement.
 

I crept through the hallway to the closest set of stairs. My eyes snagged on another fire alarm. I thought about pulling it again but didn’t want to give away my position. I had no qualms, though, about opening the glass case and removing the fire extinguisher inside.
 

Makeshift weapon in hand, I eased over to the left staircase. A frosted glass railing ran between it and the wall. I dropped to my knees and crawled along, stopping as I reached a cut-out lip in the glass. I peered through the clear pane into the lobby below.
 

Everything seemed to be normal. There was no sign of Octavia, Bandit, or any other goons. Not even a security guard sat at the front desk. Maybe I’d lucked out—

A flash of silver caught my eye, and I looked—
really
looked—at it. Sure enough, Bandit stood half-hidden behind a palm tree in the shadows. I wouldn’t have seen him at all, except for the gleam bouncing off his gun. I scanned the rest of the lobby, but didn’t see Octavia. She had to be lurking around somewhere, though.

I bit my lip. There was no way I could get past Bandit without him putting a bullet in my back, but there was no point in going up to another floor. The lobby was the only exit I knew of out of the building. I sure wasn’t going back down to the lab again. Maybe I could just hide in one of the bathrooms until morning, then sneak out when the commuters came in—

A faint sound rang out through the lobby. Bandit froze. I cocked my head, listening. It came again. That soft sound of a zipper being drawn down. My breath caught in my throat.
 

Talon—he was here.

A second later, a thin, black cable fell into the lobby, and a man in a cobalt-blue leather suit slid down it. I would have known him anywhere. Talon’s head swiveled back and forth as he unbuckled himself from the line.
 

In the shadows, Bandit lifted his gun, just as he’d done in the alley. This time, though, I wasn’t going to stay quiet.

“Talon! Behind you!” I screamed.

Both men looked up at the sound of my voice. I stood up and chucked the fire extinguisher over the balcony at Bandit. The can clanked against the floor. It didn’t come anywhere close to hitting the ubervillain, but it made him flinch, and his bullet went wild. Talon rolled behind a cluster of chairs.

“Abby!” Talon said.

I never got a chance to respond. This time, Bandit raised his gun and fired at me. The glass railing shattered. Jagged, broken pieces cut my arms and hands, and I lost my balance. I bounced down the steps, hitting each and every one, before falling hard onto the lobby floor.
 

Pain exploded in my body. My hips. Back. Shoulders. Arms. Head. Every single part of me ached and throbbed. Blood filled my mouth.
 

A hand shoved itself into my hair and pulled me up. White stars burst in front of my eyes. For a moment, I couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t breathe. All I could feel was a sharp, stabbing pain in my chest. Somehow, my lungs kept working. I blinked, and the stars faded away, even if the pain didn’t.

Bandit shoved me in front of him, using me as a shield. His gun made a cold, round impression against my throbbing temple. Talon slowly stood from his position behind the chairs. He had his crossbow gun up and pointed at Bandit.

“Put the gun down or she dies!” Bandit hissed.

“She dies, you die!” Talon snarled back.

“Bandit!” a third voice cut in. “Bandit, what’s your status?”

It took me a minute to realize Bandit was wearing a transmitter in his ear and that Octavia was squawking at him.

“I’ve got Abby in the lobby. We have a visitor, too. Get your ass down here.”

Bandit held me in front of him, his gun against my head. Talon stood about fifteen feet away, gun still out, his arm steady. My supersenses kicked into high gear, and I felt, heard, and saw everything amplified a thousand times. The ashy stench of Bandit’s sweat. The coppery taste of blood in my mouth. The steadiness of Talon’s arm. The cable creaking over our heads. My eyes flicked up.
 

The cable.

About thirty seconds later, the elevator
pinged!
open. High heels stabbed the floor, and Octavia walked up to Bandit. She also had a gun, but I noticed with no small sense of satisfaction she had to hold it in her left hand. Blood still dripped from the wounds I’d put in her right shoulder. For once, Octavia wasn’t the picture of cool perfection. Her black hair hung around her face, plastered to her neck. Dark circles had appeared under her eyes, and her red lipstick had smeared across her cheeks. I wondered if Octavia’s haggard appearance was from the blood loss or the euphoridon pumping through her body.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Talon, come to save his damsel in distress.”

“And if it isn’t the mysterious Tycoon,” Talon replied. “It seems you’re bleeding. What happened to your arm?”

Octavia’s eyes cut to me. I smiled.

“I think you need to put your gun down,” Bandit replied. “Or I’m going to put a bullet in Abby’s head. Right. Now.”

Talon didn’t lower his weapon. Instead, he raised his other hand. Something silver glittered between his fingers. My breath caught in my throat. The flash drive. He must have gotten it from Piper and broken the encryption. That must have been how he knew to come to Oomph headquarters.

Octavia spotted it too. “Give me that, and I might let you live.”

“That’s a lie, and we all know it. So, we’ll trade,” Talon said. “Abby for the drive.”

Octavia looked at Bandit. The ubervillain nodded. They were going to double-cross Talon as soon as they got the flash drive and kill us both. I knew it, and so did he. So, why was he trying to bargain with them? To save me? Or to save Nightingale?
 

“All right,” Octavia said. “Bandit, let her go.”

The ubervillain lowered his gun and shoved me toward Talon. I stumbled and would have fallen if the superhero hadn’t caught me. His arm caused me more pain as it wrapped tightly around my waist, but I wouldn’t have traded the feeling of his body against mine for anything in the world.

“Abby—”
 

“There’s no time,” I whispered. “The lips. Shoot your crossbow at the lips. At the cable.”

“What? Why?”

“Do you trust me?”

Talon nodded.

“You have her. Now, the flash drive,” Octavia said. “Slide it over here.”

Talon let go of the drive and kicked it away with his boot. It skidded across the floor, and Octavia dropped to her knees, grabbed the drive, and studied it. Bandit kept his guns trained on us.
 

“This looks like the right drive.” Octavia looked at me. Our eyes locked, and her mouth hardened. “Kill them!”

The world went into slow motion. Bandit pulled the trigger on his gun. Talon threw himself to one side, taking me with him. A bullet brushed my cheek, the hot metal stinging my skin. Talon fell to the ground, me on top of him. He raised his arm. The trigger on his crossbow gun clicked, and a bolt shot out. Bandit raised his other revolver, ready to fire again. We were prone on the floor. This time, he wouldn’t miss.

But Talon’s aim was true too. The bolt zipped through the cable, slicing it in half. Even from my position on the floor, I heard it snap. Air flowed over my skin as it started to fall.

Bandit also heard the sound. His eyes flicked up, but he realized the danger too late. He dived to one side, trying to get out of the way. Octavia was too intent on raising her own gun to move.