The Escape (35 page)

“Stella’s out there, but you can’t channel her ability until we kill the generator.”

“Yeah, but I know another one who’s a lot closer.” I shifted back to the desk and unhooked the laptop that was connected to a keyboard and the large monitor.

“Let’s go,” I said to Mari, linking our minds. “Follow me.”

M
ARI AND
I
SHIFTED TO
Patrick’s dark cell. He was awake despite the bullet hole in his chest, his shield tight over his mind. “Patrick,” I said softly. Pain sluiced off him like water.

He gasped and scrambled away from me. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Erin. I was here earlier.”

I felt him relax. “How’d you get in?”

I moved closer and whispered so softly I didn’t know if he could hear. “I’ll explain later. Right now, I need you to drop your mind shield. I can’t risk them hearing.”

“You’re like
her
then.” Disgust in his voice.

“No, because I’m asking. I don’t have to.”

He considered a moment before dropping his shield. “Okay.”

I need you to disable the cameras,
I told him.
I know you’re hurt, but you’re the only one who can do it
. Even channeling his ability, I doubted I’d have enough expertise to do it quickly.
I have a friend here and we’re going to help you and the other prisoners here escape.
How we’d do that wasn’t exactly clear, but my idea involved taking out the generator, using the prisoners as soldiers, and communicating with the others outside, especially Brody Emerson.

I saw Patrick’s consent in his mind and I opened the laptop, fumbling a little with my anxiety. I had no idea what Delia and Edgel were up to, but I didn’t suppose it would take them long to regroup. I had to free the prisoners before then.

Mari helped me prop Patrick against the wall. He was cold to my touch. The light from the laptop showed me he’d been bandaged, but his face was pale and drawn. I should have thought to bring him a painkiller because I doubted the guard had given him one. His Unbounded genes would help with that, but a little mortal medicine sometimes went a long way to staving off the pain until true healing set in. Mari removed her jacket to lay over him.

His fingers flew over the keys. I could feel his comfort at the familiarity of the computer. It’d been eight months since they’d let him touch anything electronic.

We need to either disable the cameras altogether or loop in feed from other days,
I said in his mind.
Don’t say anything aloud; just think the words and I’ll see them
. As long as he didn’t think about too many things at once.

He shook his head, typing fast. After a moment, he said aloud. “I looped in another room’s feed to the lobby desk where they’re monitoring everything. They can’t hear us now. But I can’t do anything with the camera feed. They have them protected and it’d take too long. I can, however, insert my own program that will crash all the cameras. It’ll take them an hour to clean and reboot.”

“Do it,” I said. It would be a clear signal to Delia that someone was in their computer system, so we’d have to get the prisoners out fast. But she already knew something was wrong with what happened in the lab, so maybe it didn’t matter. Even as I had the thought, a blaring alarm came from the hallway. “Looks like they’re letting everyone know about my escape.”

“My phone won’t work.” Mari stared at the device in her hand. “Crap, I thought we’d at least have that.”

I hadn’t even considered that she might have her phone. “Delia suspected our people were behind the electricity failure, and she knew someone had come inside. Makes sense that she’d try to block communications.” While the phone couldn’t get us out of here, it would have been a line of communication with the outside.

“I don’t see anything here related to blocking cell phones,” Patrick said.

“Well, they have a generator, so whatever’s blocking my phone is probably getting energy from that.” Mari returned the phone to her pocket. “Can you do anything about the generator from here?”

Patrick shook his head. “Must not be connected to the computer. If I had a few tools and could get to the wires in the wall . . .”

“No time for that,” I said. “Look, we’ll release the other prisoners and kill the generator. We’ll be back for you within the hour.”

Patrick’s hand shot out to grab mine. “You take care of yourself. If it means everyone else getting recaptured, don’t come back for me.”

I bit my lip, hoping there wasn’t enough light from the screen for him to see the tears in my eyes. “Okay,” I said, because that’s what he wanted to hear. No matter what, I was coming back. “Are the cameras offline?”

Patrick nodded. “And all their listening devices as well.” He hesitated a heartbeat before saying, “Wait. I need to ask . . . before they took me, I had just started dating a girl. She was something really special. I thought we might . . . tell me, does that guy who stole my life . . . do you know if he’s dating anyone?”

I thought back to the information Stella had collected, unable to remember. Mari beat me to an answer. “Nope, no girlfriend. Not a surprise when we know his end goal. But apparently it’s got a lot of conservatives worried.”

“Good.” Patrick breathed a sigh. “Smart girl. I hoped she would dump him.”

By the emotion peeling from him, I suspected if we ever got out of here Patrick was going to find that girl and explain everything. Since I’d tried to do the same thing with those I loved, I didn’t blame him.

“Come on, Mari,” I said.

We shifted together, appearing a breath later in a dark room.

“Who’s there?” a voice rang out.

I recognized Willis Tyrone’s voice, the prisoners’ self-appointed leader. Too late I thought about bringing a flashlight. “Erin, Ava’s descendant. It’s time to get out of here. The cameras and sound have been taken care of, but we still have a few problems.”

Light flared from behind the bars as Dragon brought fire to life on his palm. I’d forgotten about him. I’d have to remind him not to burn up the place until we were certain to get out.

“Tell us,” Willis urged.

I outlined the situation. “It’s not how we planned to come in,” I added, “but it’s now or never. First we need to get you out of this room, and then we need to kill their generator. That’s the only way we can coordinate with our people outside. Plus we have a blaster. If you can hold off the guards until I reach him, he may be able help us take them all out, at least those inside. After that, I can’t guarantee we’ll get out of the building, but it’s a start. We won’t try if you don’t want to.”

“Like hell!” This from Guenter Simon. “We’ve been ready since the day you came here wearing
her
skin.”

“She’s here.” It was only fair to warn them.

“Good.” Guenter again, his voice full of the anger and frustration he felt at not being able to protect Mandalyn and their unborn baby.

“If we take over the inside,” Willis said, “that will give us an advantage since we’ll have them surrounded. They’ll be wedged in between us and our Renegades.”

That was one way to look at it. I wasn’t as optimistic. If Mari had counted thirty soldiers, there were probably double that number out there. Even though three of the prisoners had the combat ability and the other two had also been trained, we were poorly armed and far outmanned. Still, we had determination on our side, and that had to count for something.

“So how do we open the bars?” I asked.

“The guard outside will have the keys. By the time you get back, we’ll be ready.” They were already doing something at the back of the cell. Gathering the hidden weapons we’d left for them in the planter near the lab, I assumed.

“I’ll start a little distraction,” came a female voice. Francis, the summoner. As she spoke, the skitter of tiny feet sounded over the floors. “The guard hates my little friends. They make him nervous.”

I reached for Mari, signaling her to get ready to shift. I was tempted to go alone and take care of the guard myself, but while I’d rather have Ritter as backup, two of us were better than one.

Where exactly was Ritter? The question picked at my mind. Probably doing something dangerous. Oliver had better not get him or my brother killed.

Pushing back the thought, I sent my mind to the guard outside the door, and called up my machete to break down his shield. It took longer than expected; despite absorbing as much as possible, all the shifting and mind games were taking their toll on my energy level. He was watching cockroaches, mice, and ants gathering in the hall, moving back as they approached his position. Perfect.

Now,
I told Mari, sending her a view of the exact location. She’d been in the hall and so could shift there on her own, but I wanted her behind the guard.

He jerked as the soft
pop!
alerted him to our presence. He was not one of the men I’d seen before, but the sword strapped to his back signaled his expertise. I pointed a gun at him. “The keys, please.” Without hesitation, he went for his own gun, but I crashed my foot into his stomach. As he bent over in pain, I pushed deeper into his mind. “Where is the generator?”

He didn’t want to tell me, but the sand stream of his thoughts betrayed him, bringing the information to the forefront. The generator was in a little room off the lobby. I jabbed my fist into his face and he fell unconscious.

“Ritter always says we should shoot them,” Mari reminded me, removing keys from his pocket, “or he’ll just get back up in a few minutes.”

As I fired three shots to stop his heart, two more Unbounded skidded around the corner, and I could feel other life forces coming toward us from elsewhere in the building, more than had been inside earlier. Delia and Edgel must have called for backup from the outside army.

“Go!” I told Mari. “Free the prisoners.”

We both shifted as the guards fired. I appeared behind them, shooting one but losing my gun as the second anticipated me and kicked it out of my hand. I kicked back, my uniform skirt ripping up the side, and he curled momentarily in pain. But he was combat Unbounded, and if I didn’t start channeling his ability, I’d be in trouble. First I had to get through his shield. It should have been relatively easy with my increasing ability, but a mental heaviness weighed me down. Too much effort too fast. I was drained. Could it have anything to do with the miniature snake Delia had placed in my mind?

A tramp of feet filled the hall and more men appeared behind me, Edgel at their front. Reaching for Mari’s mind, I dove for my .380, grabbed the fallen guard’s rifle, and shifted again to the far end of the hall away from my opponent as the prisoners spilled from the room. “They’re coming!” I shouted, letting loose a volley of shots. “Take cover!” More shots erupted around us as everyone sprinted for the next intersection in the hall. Willis, who’d stopped to scoop up the first fallen guard’s assault rifle, almost didn’t make it in time.

Dragon brought his fire to life. “No!” Willis slapped at his arm. “Later.”

“They need more weapons,” I told Mari. She nodded and disappeared. I followed her mentally, still connected to her mind. She appeared behind the last guard in the opposing group, her knife slipping into his ribs.

I scarcely had time to register my surprise at her bravery before she was back again, handing over another rifle to Guenter. “You go find the generator,” she said to me. “We’ll hold them here.”

I’d have to channel her ability again to get past the Emporium soldiers and then go the rest of the way on foot since I couldn’t shift past the machine created shield. If the soldiers had any idea how important the generator was to us, they’d make their stand in the lobby instead of here in the hallway. At least Delia hadn’t guessed that yet, and I’d been using most of my failing strength to keep a tight lock on my mind and on Mari’s to make sure she didn’t discover our plan.

“Delia’s still around somewhere, so put up your shield after I go,” I reminded Mari.

“Okay. Just get to the generator.”

I shifted.