The Three (41 page)

“That’s right, sweetheart,” Kael groaned. “Suck me.”

Anna obeyed, pulling engorged flesh into her mouth and sucking gently. Kael moaned and shook at her action, and so Anna sucked harder. Kael’s fingers tightened in her hair and held her in place.

“You’re so good, honey.” Kael’s voice broke on the compliment. Thrusting her hips forward, sliding her wetness over Anna’s lips, nose, and chin, she settled into a mindless rhythm as she sought release. “I’m so close already.”

Anna was in heaven. Kael tasted incredible, and the noises she made had Anna almost frantic to send her over the edge. She angled her neck so she could attack Kael’s center with renewed vigor, sliding her lips and tongue over the hot, wet flesh.

“Anna. Oh, Anna, Anna-baby—” Kael’s entire body stiffened and jerked as she came and released a rush of salty-sweet liquid into Anna’s mouth.

Anna moaned and lapped up Kael’s juices, ecstatic at what she had just unleashed. I did that. She licked at Kael’s hot, contracting flesh, and delighted in the way she could feel the orgasm with her lips, her tongue, her whole face.

“I’m about to fall down.” Kael staggered backwards and did just that, collapsing onto the bed with a shaky sigh. “I can’t believe my legs didn’t give out on me.”

Anna licked her lips, enjoying one last taste of her lover. “That was fantastic.”

Kael lifted her head with a dazed smile. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

Anna climbed into bed, basking in the afterglow of their joining. With some coaxing, she was able to maneuver Kael so that her head rested on the pillows. She looked sated but alert, and Anna wondered if there would be any real rest for her lover that night. “We need some sleep,” she murmured. “We’ve got a long morning ahead of us.”

“Thank you for tonight,” Kael held out her arms and sighed when Anna moved into her embrace. “This was just what I needed. I feel…renewed.”

“Me, too.” Smiling, Anna yawned and cuddled closer to warm, naked skin. “I have a clock set to go off about four hours before dawn.”

“Okay.” Kael gave Anna a lingering kiss, then whispered, “Until tomorrow.”

“Until tomorrow. When we get Elin back.” At last.

In a quiet, determined voice, Kael repeated, “When we get Elin back.” It was a statement of fact.

For the first time since she was a little girl, Anna felt nervous and unsure in the inky blackness of night. She followed Kael along an invisible, determined path, straining hard to keep her black-clad lover in sight. They wore matching outfits—loose black cotton pants that granted them ease of movement, long-sleeved Tshirts, and heavy boots that felt a lot more comfortable than they looked. Kael had even gone so far as to smear black grease paint on Anna’s face before they set out.

Kael was loaded down with weapons. Her sword, strapped to her back. The bow and arrows, gripped in her left hand. Her backpack was full of explosives. Most of the small bombs would be detonated by igniting a fuse, and for that they each carried a fancy silver butane lighter from Walter. They had a handful of smoke bombs, which they would use to cause confusion in the event that men started waking up during their rescue attempt. Walter had also slaved to create several explosives that could be detonated remotely, via radio. They intended to place those in key locations a safe distance from the center circle of tents before they entered the camp.

Those would be used only in the most dire of emergencies.

Anna’s empty gun was tucked into her waistband, handle pressed against the small of her back. In her right hand, she carried her baseball bat. Her left hand was clenched into a tight fist. She kept part of her mind on their surroundings while the other was consumed by doubts and worries.

Did anyone drink the wine? Does Elin know we’re coming? What if we can’t take the guards out silently?

Will we be able to get all the women out of there without waking even one man up?

Her head felt like it would crack open from the pressure inside.

Ahead of her, Kael stopped near a familiar patch of trees. She motioned Anna to her side. Below them, the Procreationist camp lay still and quiet in the night.

Well, not entirely still.

Almost immediately, Anna spotted a guard leaning against a tree at the east side of camp, over near the men’s playing field. As she watched, he pushed away from the tree, took a step forward, and spit onto the ground. That accomplished, he returned to his post.

There’s one. And he doesn’t look tired to me.

Anna tapped Kael and gestured to the guard. Kael nodded, then directed Anna’s attention to the opposite side of the camp. For a moment Anna saw nothing, then she recognized the dark form of a man, slumped against the base of a tree. He wasn’t moving, and Anna assumed that he was asleep.

And there’s number two.

One after the other, they found and pointed out the guards to one another, silently analyzing the situation as they found it. Anna could practically hear Kael’s mind working, until finally she leaned over and whispered, “We start with the guy on the far right. He’s the most awake, I think. After that, clockwise until we finish with that guy who’s snoring at the other side of camp, next to the first. After that, we move to the center. If we can’t isolate the one farthest from us right now so that the other doesn’t see, we may have to coordinate attacking the last two.” Kael’s soft words were clipped and precise. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in her voice. “I’m going to volunteer to be the one to take down each of them, while you stand by in case I need help, but if you have another idea, tell me.”

Anna was surprised that Kael was giving her the chance to suggest an alternate plan. But he’s right. That’s the way we should do it. She shook her head. “No, I’ll stay behind you. I’ll keep an eye out for other guards while you strike. If you need help, I’ll come. Otherwise, I’ll stay put.”

Kael pressed her lips against Anna’s cheek, smearing the black grease painted there. “I love you, Anna-baby.” Anna heard the first hint of vulnerability in her stoic lover’s voice. “Be safe.”

“You too, love.” Anna’s hands were shaking. “What about the bombs?”

“I’ll plant some along the way. Don’t worry. I’m hoping we won’t need any of them.”

Anna nodded. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s go.”

Kael took Anna’s hand, and they worked their way through the trees and down a gradual slope that led to a clearing adjacent to the playing field. Crouched low, senses attuned to the surroundings, Anna was determined to hear any threat long before it could surprise them.

The first guard still leaned against the same tree where they’d spotted him earlier. He hummed softly, under his breath, and Anna was grateful for the noise to cover their approach in the trees behind him. She took up a position behind the trunk of a solid oak and nodded at Kael.

Kael bent to lay her bow and arrows on the ground, rolled her neck from side to side, and then she was moving.

She struck so quickly that even Anna was taken by surprise, and she had known what was going to happen. She heard only the soft crack of the man’s neck breaking. He fell limp in Kael’s arms, and she stepped back into the shadows, taking his body with her.

One down. Anna breathed a sigh of relief. The butterflies in her stomach calmed as she considered the ease and cold efficiency with which Kael had dispatched the first guard. Kael’s right. He really is good at killing.

Kael knelt down beside the body, then fiddled with something from her half-opened backpack before setting it on the dead man’s lap. Anna’s eyes widened when she realized that this was one of Kael’s remote bombs.

The second guard was even easier. This one wasn’t sleeping, but he sat against a tree, staring blankly at the tents. He looked exhausted, and Anna wondered if he’d accepted a drink from Matt earlier and was struggling to stay awake. He slumped to the side after Kael broke his neck, his death no more dramatic than a candle being snuffed out by the wind. Kael dragged his body into the trees.

There were two men left around the perimeter, two in the center. So far, nobody seemed to have noticed that the guards were being picked off one by one.

Kael ushered Anna past the trees that bisected the river from the camp, around to the guard who stood closest to Trey’s tent. Anna’s stomach fluttered uneasily as they worked their way into position well behind him, a grouping of trees their only cover. Once again, Kael set down her bow and arrows. But this time she produced a wicked-looking knife from her belt. She lowered herself to the grass and started a slow, stealthy crawl on her belly toward the guard, knife held between white teeth that stood out in stark contrast to the black clothing and makeup she wore. Watching Kael’s glacial progress through the grass was torturous, and Anna’s heart pounded so loudly that she was afraid the statue-still guard would hear it.

When Kael was only ten feet from their target, the guard raised his arms, took a step backwards, and sighed tiredly. Kael froze, immobile in the grass.

Oh, fuck. Anna’s hand ached from holding her baseball bat so tightly. She stared at the back of the guard’s head, willing him not to turn around. The guard lowered his arms so he could plant his hands on his hips.

He twisted back and forth, then bent at the waist and stretched down to touch his toes.

I wonder if he’s bored or just trying to stay awake. He seems awfully active for someone who might be drugged. Anna shifted, ready to bolt from her hiding spot if Kael needed her.

All of a sudden Kael was moving. To Anna’s left, through the grass, beating a silent path to a fallen tree only feet away. Anna breathed a sigh of relief when she made it behind the thick trunk undetected.

As she was wondering what they should do, the guard turned, striding with purpose toward the tree where Anna hid. He walked directly over the spot where Kael had lain on the ground barely twenty feet away, making Anna profoundly grateful for Kael’s intuition. When Kael sat up fast, the thin moonlight revealing panicked eyes, the reality of the situation dawned on her.

He’s coming right at me.

Anna bit back a gasp and retreated fully behind the trunk, trying to make her body as narrow as possible.

The sound of footsteps in the soft grass grew louder. Only the thick trunk of the tree and the darkness of the moonlit night separated her from the enemy.

We may not be able to take this guy quietly. What if he sees me? I don’t think he drank the wine. Fuck it all.

For the span of what felt like a hundred hushed, measured breaths, there was silence. Anna didn’t move a muscle, one hand clenched into a fist and the other going numb from gripping her baseball bat so tightly.

She wondered what Kael was doing. Is he sneaking up behind this guy even at this moment? She closed her eyes for an instant, then opened them for fear that she wouldn’t react in time if the guard realized she was there.

The sound of a wet stream hitting the opposite side of the tree jolted Anna, and she jerked in surprise and released a quiet, involuntary gasp. Before she could worry about whether the guard heard her over his urination, she heard the man grunt and utter something, then a frantic gurgling cut off the exclamation.

That, too, was silenced after another instant, and then Kael hustled around the back of the tree dragging the man’s heavy bulk in her arms. Help me, she mouthed.

Anna grabbed the man’s feet and hefted his lower half. She and Kael lumbered a few yards farther away from the camp and dumped the body in some undergrowth. They returned stealthily to their vantage point and scanned the distant tents for any sign that the guard’s aborted cry had alerted someone.

When nothing stirred for several minutes, they shared a brief, joyful grin at the danger they’d just faced and defeated, and Kael mouthed, Let’s go. The final perimeter guard was ridiculously easy. The guard sat on the hard ground with his long legs stretched in front of him and his back against a fallen log. Head tipped back, he snored open-mouthed at the sky. Kael cut his throat without waking him, and Anna tucked the second remote bomb beneath his lifeless arm.

They took their time working their way to the middle of the loose ring of tents. Starting from the far side of camp in relation to their observation point, they dropped into crouches so they could ease their way between tents occupied by sleeping Procreationists. As they passed one green tent, Anna heard a loud snore emanate from inside, then a series of muttering grunts and murmurs. She pressed her hand over her mouth to stop the hysterical laughter that threatened to escape, an irrational impulse, and saw Kael glance backwards at her with bright-eyed sympathy.

Crouched behind a small red tent, the first in the back row of prisoner tents, Kael peeked her head around the side, then drew back immediately. She didn’t move, didn’t turn to look at Anna, but Anna knew what Kael’s caution meant. She had spotted the two inner guards they needed to dispatch.

“They’re within sight of each other,” Kael whispered. “We’ll have to take them both at once.”

Anna nodded. Her stomach turned at the knowledge of what she would have to do. That means one of these guys is mine.

Kael’s serious pantomime of the motion required to break a man’s neck was almost enough to send her into panicked, frantic laughter. She breathed deeply in an effort to stay calm. This is no way to be a ruthless killer.

Anna had never been a ruthless killer, and she hated the necessity of what she was going to do. But she was prepared to do whatever it took. If it meant killing every last man here, she was just as determined as Kael to get Elin back.