Tested (18 page)

They were separating them. What if she couldn’t get back to Tyler? What if they did something to him? Crap, what if they were planning on doing something to her? She looked warily over at Geoff and the others. None of them were looking at her as they walked down the empty halls.

Missy remained quiet as they made their way toward the main hall that would take them out to the street. Fear made her hands shake, something she didn’t want any of the men around her to notice. She needed to remain calm, or at least outwardly so. It was becoming harder and harder, however, the closer she got to the exit.

“I bet you’re pretty happy, huh?” Geoff said, interrupting the silence.

Missy jumped slightly before looking over at him in confusion. “Happy about what?” she asked.

He sent her a look that said she was nuts. “That you’re finally out of there. You must have been terrified of that ogre.”

She instantly bristled at the insult then forced herself to appear neutral. “He never hurt me,” she said simply.

“Well that’s good,” he muttered. His eyes trailed down her. “Not at all?”

Her face burned at the insinuation. All she could do was shake her head.

“I’m glad,” was all he said. They walked further before she got up the nerve to ask him a question.

“When should I come back tomorrow?”

Geoff looked at her and laughed. “You’re joking, right? You’re finally out and you’re actually going to come back here? Are you insane?” He stopped walking, his eyes narrowed on her as she stopped also. “Do you know that guy?”

“Of course not,” she replied immediately. “He’s from the western ghetto, isn’t he? I’m from here,” she lied.

He nodded. “I thought as much. Then why come back?”

Missy shrugged, trying her best to appear casual. “I just thought you guys liked having me around to control him.”

The look on his face was one of relief. “Look, don’t worry about that. We can handle that guy. Plus, after tonight, it won’t even matter.”

Blood drained from her face. “Why won’t it matter?” she asked, hating the way her voice had dropped, no matter how hard she’d tried to keep it strong. Her throat constricted from the panic clogging it.

He smiled as though they were sharing a secret. “Let’s just say, he’s going on a mission he’s not expected to come back from. We don’t need guys like him around who are unpredictable. They’re only good for one thing.”

She cleared her throat uselessly. “What’s that?”

“Distraction,” he answered with a laugh as the other three guys laughed along with him.

Missy could only manage to nod, her mouth now dry and cottony. She moved toward the exit doors, turning back just as she reached them. “Should I come back tomorrow anyway – for work?”

“Why don’t you take a few days off,” Geoff offered with a smile. “You deserve it after all that. Things are going to be a little nuts around here for the next few days anyway. Best to stay out of the way.”

“Right,” she said in almost a whisper. Missy walked out, a light drizzle hitting her face. It was the first time she’d been outside in what felt like years, and yet she hardly took notice. Her feet moved on their own accord as she made her way toward Bridgette’s apartment. She needed to get to her phone and call Phoenix ASAP. Something serious was happening, and it was clear Tyler was in more danger now than he’d ever been.

CHAPTER TWENTY

It didn’t take her long to get back to the rundown apartment building. The air inside the tiny room was stale and musty from being empty for so long. She took a second to open one of the windows before going into the small bedroom and retrieving the phone she’d hidden beneath the mattress.

The other line rang and rang until it clicked off. Missy growled in frustration, her heart racing uncontrollably in her chest. She needed help to get Tyler out of the institute, and something told her time was running out. Trying again, she hit the pre-programmed number and sat on the edge of the bed as the other line rang.

A loud rumbling from outside had her pulling the phone away from her ear to stare at the open window in the main living room. It grew louder, as though something large was coming her way. Confused, Missy got up and went over to look outside at the desolate streets below. A heavy shadow darkened the already gloomy area. Looking up, her mouth fell open at the sight waiting there.

Planes. Lots of them. The kind that brought back horrible memories from the beginning of the war. Missy knew exactly what they held inside them, and it left nothing but terror in her body. Her head shook in disbelief and confusion. She couldn’t understand this. What was Ludwig Tennebris up to now?

As she stood frozen, her eyes trained on the fleet now flying above the eastern ghetto, the bottoms of them opened up just as she knew they would, and from them came more destruction. More death. More devastation.

The first bomb hit, exploding on contact, shattering a building that was already almost reduced to rubble, but would most assuredly be now. Then one after another the planes dropped their weapons of destruction. The ground shook as the eastern ghetto suffered another attack at the hands of the New World leader.

Heat from the fires was already reaching her.
Move!
Her brain urged her. Snapping back to attention, Missy quickly tucked the phone into her back pocket and raced for the door. Going out into the streets probably wasn’t the smartest thing, but really at this point there was nowhere safe. She’d just have to take her chances. That, and she needed to get to Tyler. If the NWO was bombing this side of the city again, that meant the institute could be in just as much danger as the rest of the city. All those patients were locked in rooms and would be left to die if the building was hit. There was no way she was going to leave Tyler to such a fate.

Time had definitely run out, even more so than she had feared.

“Get up!”

A sharp pain ratcheted up his side from where the owner of that command had just kicked him. His ribs screamed from the attack as his eyes blinked a number of times in an attempt to focus on his surroundings. Tyler found himself lying on the floor of his room, his mind struggling to catch up with what just had happened.

The technician threw a bundle of clothes on his stomach unceremoniously. “Put that on and be ready to move when we tell you,” he all but barked at him.

Rising slowly, Tyler sat up, his head swimming slightly at the movement. His mouth was dry and cottony, a dull throbbing now starting just behind his eyes. The dart that had struck him lay next to his leg, reminding him of how he’d come to be on the floor. Looking around quickly, a mistake he recognized instantly as his head screamed, Tyler took note that Missy was no longer there with him.

“Where is she?” he said, his voice hoarse. How long had he been out? How long had they been apart? Had they hurt her?

“Don’t worry,” the technician answered in a bored voice, “she’s safe and sound. Now get dressed.”

Tyler looked down at the dark clothing he’d been given. “What is this for?”

“The attack on the NWO headquarters has been pushed up. We need you ready to move at a moment’s notice. You’ll be leading the group in the attack.”

Right. How could he forget? He thought dryly. Now that he was thinking clearly, he realized just how suspicious it was that Douglas would put him in charge of an attack. Tyler might not have known the General in his drugged state, but there was no way Douglas hadn’t known him. So what was the rebel leader up to? A suicide mission of sorts? It was the only explanation that made sense. He
had
to be setting Tyler up.

“Where will the rest of you be?” he asked, knowing the group they had put together when they’d had their little meeting had been only about ten men, if that. Certainly not enough to accomplish a successful attack on a building like the New World Order’s headquarters. It was definitely a suicide mission.

“We’ll be attacking as well, don’t you worry. Just focus on what you have to do and don’t ask questions.” And with that dismissal, the man turned and exited, leaving Tyler still sitting in the middle of the room.

What the General had planned, he didn’t know, but one thing he was sure about was that no one expected him to actually return from this mission they’d given him. If he didn’t know any better, he’d guess he was a distraction for something else. The group of ten he was being given had to be expendables. It was how the General worked – all for the good of the resistance. Men were simple tools to achieve a greater purpose in the end. He just wished he knew what exactly he was being sacrificed for. If Pete or Trent were around they’d be able to help him sort through this. Hopefully Missy would be at Bridge’s apartment by now and had gotten a hold of the others.

Getting up slowly, Tyler began to dress in the clothing that had been given to him. He had no plans to actually lead the attack as per their instructions, but he’d take advantage of the new, darker clothing. Dressed all in black, Tyler was just sitting down to pull on a pair of heavy boots that had been left for him when he felt a faint tremble in the ground.

He froze, his eyes going to the door, his ears straining to hear anything. His first thought was that there had to be a large group of people heading his way if he could feel their movements in the ground beneath him, but he could hear nothing from the hall outside. There were no footsteps, no talking or the normal sound of a mass of people.

The ground shook again, this time more noticeably than before. His hearing picked up a distant sound that had him instantly standing. Focusing, he waited for only half a minute before it came again. The tremble beneath his feet was even stronger now, as was the sound that could not be mistaken for anything but what it was. They were bombing outside. Tyler would know that sound as well as he’d know the sound of his own voice. When you’ve lived through large scale bomb raids, you never forget the sound or the feeling it leaves within you – ever.

Another came, quicker now than the last, this one causing the entire building to shake. Tyler cursed out loud. Had the building been hit? He waited, his body tense with anxiety, as another hit came, this time leaving no doubt in his mind that the building in which he was trapped had most definitely been hit.

The walls now shook along with the floor, the sound almost deafening to his oversensitive ears. Tyler ran to the door, pulling at the handle with all of the strength he could muster. It was useless, the heavy metal unrelenting beneath his attempts. His forehead hit the hard, cold surface as he leaned forward, squeezing his eyes shut.
Think
, he ordered himself. There had to be a way to get out.

Another hit shook the building. Tyler stiffened, still leaning against the door, his lungs expanding as he inhaled deeply through his nose. He straightened, his eyes trained on the barrier standing between himself and freedom. He breathed in again, his heart sinking as the cold realization sank in. Somewhere, the building was burning, and from the scent of it, it was spreading quickly.

The streets were in utter chaos. People ran frantically about as the city lit up in flames, the bombs continuing to rain down on the already destroyed city. Missy pushed her way through the crowds of people who were running in the opposite direction, away from the fires now lighting the sky.

Heavy smoke filled the air, burning her eyes and lungs as she pushed herself as fast as she could. The screaming of both children and adults filled the air, something Missy had prayed never to hear again. The only thing she could do, the only way she could keep moving forward, was to block it all out. Her dreams would be filled with the sounds of panic, but while she was awake she would push forward and not crumple beneath the horror of it all.

The institute came into view as she rounded the corner and she found herself skidding to a stop. Her heart literally froze at what she saw. The entire northern side of the building was now completely black, the structure nothing but its bare bones. Flames were spreading along the entire structure, engulfing it in the bright orange and red hues of destruction.