The Three (43 page)

Kael sliced at the tent with her right hand, then immediately reversed direction and plunged her knife into the form of a man who struggled beneath the green nylon. Reaching through the material where she’d cut it open, Kael pulled her opponent out by the neck and cut his throat with lightning-quick precision.

Elin scrambled out of the last prisoner tent, closely followed by Lana’s mother and her blonde companion.

“Fuck,” she breathed as she spotted Kael dropping the second man.

“Yeah. They’re waking up.” Anna swept her eyes along the other tents, already spotting movement in two more. “I’ve got to get you guys out of here.”

Elin frowned. “I won’t leave you two.”

“Elin, you’re the only one I trust to help those women escape,” Anna said in a harsh whisper. “Please don’t make this whole thing have been in vain. Please just do this.”

The blonde woman grabbed Anna’s arm. “They’re going to kill us.”

“They won’t,” Anna said. “You’re too valuable.” Herding the women together, she told Elin, deadly serious,

“Take them to the others. I want you to go find Dr. Kate Woodard’s house, okay? She’s expecting you.”

Before Elin could say a word, they both heard the sound of material being rent apart not far from where they stood. The noise level in camp was growing exponentially, and Anna gave up all hope that they could turn back the tide on this one. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed a smoke bomb and the lighter. She watched Kael fight with two new men, still across the camp from Trey’s tent. She couldn’t see Matt in the growing chaos.

Tears spilled from Elin’s eyes, and even as Anna agonized over the sight, she realized that one of the men who had escaped his tent was running over to them. Without conscious thought, Anna dropped the smoke bomb to grip her weapon with both hands. She drew back and swung her wooden baseball bat at the man’s head as he approached.

Thunk. And he was down.

Anna’s heart broke at the shock on Elin’s face. Goddamn it, Elin, I never wanted you to see that. “Go!” she urged. “Get them out of here.” She picked up the smoke bomb from the grass with shaking hands.

“I love you,” Elin whispered, in tears. “Get Kael and find me as soon as you can.”

“I will,” Anna swore. “And I love you.” She lit the smoke bomb and tossed it onto the ground between her and a small group of groggy-looking men who advanced on them. She retrieved the other smoke bomb and paused for a split second to survey the camp as Elin hurried the women away.

Kael was fighting hard, already surrounded by motionless bodies lying at her feet. As Anna watched, she struck down two enemies in succession, then reached into her pocket to withdraw a bulky object. Anna barely had time to wonder what she was holding before the relative quiet of the night was broken by the most incredible sound she had ever heard.

An impressive explosion rocked the south side of camp, then the northeast. Anna pivoted on her feet, momentarily disoriented by the noise of the detonation. As she surveyed the north side of camp, she noticed that a third explosion had also occurred; the source of the smoke and flames was in the general vicinity of Trey’s tent.

Anna lit her last smoke bomb. She tossed it to her left, judging the northern side of camp as the most dangerous to Elin’s escape. The last thing we need is for Trey to see Elin making a run for it. If he’s still alive after that blast. She strained hard to see through the thickening smoke, unable to do anything until she saw Elin disappear. Then she turned back to the escalating fight.

Anna didn’t take the time to count the bodies of the slain, whose blood stained the grass around Kael’s feet, but it was clear that the Procreationist ranks were rapidly decreasing. It was also clear that Kael wasn’t in need of her immediate help.

So where’s Matt?

Anna sprinted toward the northern portion of the camp, where she had last seen Matt and Kael tying the tent flaps. Running through a cloud of thick, white smoke, she was startled when two solid forms appeared in front of her. Acting on instinct and pure adrenaline, she lashed out and swung her bat at the knees of the man on the left, then brought it up to crash into the face of the man on the right. Both dropped to the ground and howled in agony.

Not wanting to finish them off—but needing them incapacitated—she took another hard swing at the knees of the man who held his bashed face, rivulets of blood running through his fingers. The man screamed again and curled into a tight little ball.

“Stay there,” Anna told them. The one on the left took a clumsy swing at her with his sword, easily avoided, and Anna brought her baseball bat down on his arm. He dropped the sword with a pained grunt. “Be nice,”

she growled.

When she emerged from the smoke, Anna spotted the ruins of Trey’s tent ahead to her left. The canvas was black and still smoldering from the explosion; an impressive radio lay in pieces on the grass outside. A tiny smile tugged on Anna’s lips at the sight.

The smile faded only moments later when Anna heard something that chilled her blood. To her left, at the northwest side of camp, a boy cried out in fear. Even having never heard that particular sound from that particular boy, Anna knew in an instant.

Matt.

She took off running, feet pounding against the damp grass, eyes desperately scanning her surroundings for her blond friend. Droplets of sweat rolled down her face, evidence of the cold terror that seized her at the sound of that cry in the damp, pre-dawn hours.

When she found him, she also found something else. The explosion at Trey’s tent hadn’t killed the man, as she had fervently hoped. His hair looked singed, and he was bleeding from the forehead, but he was alive.

And pointing a very real gun at a kneeling Matt’s head.

“You know what I do to traitors, you little fuck?” Cold words, delivered with pure malice. Trey drew back and kicked Matt in the ribs, then shoved the barrel of his pistol hard against Matt’s forehead.

Anna pulled her unloaded gun from the back of her pants and pointed it at Trey with a panicked scream.

“No! Put the gun down.”

Trey snapped his head up and pinned Anna with cold, dark eyes. If he was surprised at her presence, he hid it well. “Who the fuck are you? And what the fuck do you think you’re pointing at me?”

“Put yours down and I’ll put mine down.” The palm of Anna’s hand was damp with sweat, making it difficult to keep a grip on her empty gun. She concentrated on not letting her hand shake. “Don’t take this out on the boy.”

Bright red blood dripped down the side of Trey’s face. His skin looked red and raw, and his T-shirt was charred and torn. Looking down at Matt, he drew back and kicked him in the stomach again. Matt lurched forward, gasping in pain. “Why? He belongs to you, doesn’t he?”

“It’s over, man.” She didn’t use Trey’s name, not wanting him to realize just how much she knew about him and his men. “Most of your men are dead. The rest will join them soon. And the women are already gone.”

Trey curled his lip into an ugly sneer. “You’d better be lying, you little bitch.”

“I’m not. Put the gun down and let the boy go. I’m not afraid to pull the trigger.”

Trey studied her for long moments, as if evaluating her sincerity, then snorted. “You don’t have any bullets in that gun.” His voice betrayed not even a hint of doubt about that statement.

Anna tilted her head to the side. “Funny,” she remarked in a voice devoid of humor. “That’s almost exactly what your man Brian said to me. Right before I blew his brains out.”

Trey flinched. “You’re lying.” The look of restrained rage in his eyes set Anna’s heart thumping. For long moments they stared one another down, Anna’s gun trained on Trey’s head, the barrel of Trey’s hovering inches from Matt’s forehead. “You’re not going to shoot me. You can’t.”

Matt kept his eyes on the ground. Anna could see him shaking in fear. Goddamn it. I will not let him hurt Matt.

She steeled her nerve. “Want to bet?”

“Sure.” Trey turned to point his gun at her.

Anna was aware of the noise first. Ungodly loud, it made her ears ring in protest, accented by the flash of the muzzle as Trey’s gun fired. Then she felt the impact. The bullet jerked her off her feet and sent her tumbling backwards before she even registered what was happening. She landed hard on her back in the grass with a muffled grunt, as the air was forced from her lungs. Her vision blurred and darkened for long, crazy moments.

The pain was the last thing to register, and when it did, it took Anna’s breath away.

Dimly, through her shock, Anna mourned yet another failure in what felt like a lifetime of them. I couldn’t save Matt. She blinked, wincing at the burning, throbbing pain in her shoulder. And I’m going to break my promise to Elin. And Kael. Tears welled up in her eyes. The emotion stung, so badly that she had no choice but to give it free rein. Holding it inside seemed so much more agonizing.

Somewhere close to Anna, there was a soft thump as a solid body hit the ground near her. Anna battled a moment of confusion and struggled to twist around so that she could see what was happening. She hadn’t heard a second gunshot. When she found Trey’s cold eyes staring back at her, blinking with his own shock, her confusion grew.

Her confusion was dispelled only a moment later when she dragged her gaze from his singed, bloody face down to the steel shaft of an arrow protruding from the upper right of his chest. Trey seemed to notice it at exactly the same time she did. He reached up and gripped it with a weak hand.

Kael.

Anna lost consciousness with a smile on her lips.

“Anna.”

She heard Kael’s voice, frantic with worry. Then a groan, which might have come from her own mouth. She blinked her eyes open and stared up into Kael’s tense face.

“Anna, hold on for me, baby.”

“Matt—” Anna said, but her mouth was dry and she couldn’t manage more than a pathetic croak. Hazy, she realized that she was cradled in Kael’s arms and her lover was practically jogging through the darkness.

The movement jarred Anna’s body, leaving her aware of pain she was certain would be excruciating if only she could wrap her mind around it.

“I’m right here, Anna.”

Matt’s blond head entered Anna’s peripheral vision. She tried to twist in Kael’s arms to look at his face as she struggled to piece together what had happened, and what was happening now.

“He’s fine, baby,” Kael murmured.

“You saved my life.” Matt was pale and wide-eyed. “I owe you my life.”

Anna’s head swam. But I didn’t save Matt. She gritted her teeth as the pain registered again, taking her by surprise and pushing the tender voices of her lover and her friend to the background. And Elin’s going to be so mad at me.

“Anna-baby…” Orders from Kael. “Hang on.”

She managed a half smile. It was good to hear Kael. And Matt again, especially when she knew he must be dead. She wondered if she would hear Garrett, too. Anna closed her eyes and let herself drift away, imagining a sunny afternoon spent with Kael, Elin, and Matt, all of them happy and alive.

It was a nice dream, anyway.

The next time Anna woke, it was quiet. She could hear the sound of breathing, the subtle ticking of a clock, and the muted chirping of birds. Her foot itched.

And the rest of me doesn’t feel so great, either.

Floating back into awareness, she took a mental inventory. Her throat felt like it was glued shut. Her shoulder throbbed, and she had to pee. A soft warmth pressed up against her side, bringing her unthinking comfort. Sunlight filtered through her eyelids, all red-gold heat and light, lending to her sense of displacement. Her body rested on something yielding, but she couldn’t remember where she was.

With a wounded groan, she opened her eyes and almost immediately recognized the guest bedroom at Kate’s house, as well as the tender hazel eyes that stared back at her. Elin’s face was pale, making her hair look even more vibrant with color. When she saw that Anna was awake, she leaned forward where she sat perched on the edge of the bed.

“Welcome back.” Her eyes sparkled with tears, and she brought a trembling hand to cover her mouth. “Oh, baby, I’ve never been so happy to see those beautiful brown eyes.”

She picked up a tall glass from the nightstand and maneuvered the white drinking straw between Anna’s parched lips. Anna took a grateful sip, then another when she realized how good it felt.

“Go slow,” Elin murmured. “Take it easy, sweetheart.”

“What happened?” Anna asked, propping herself up by slipping an arm heavily over Elin’s shoulder, clinging to her soft warmth. She turned her head and noticed for the first time that Kael was lying on the bed beside her. Kael’s mouth hung open slightly, and amazingly, she slept despite Anna’s distress. “Is Kael okay?”

Elin encouraged Anna back against the pillows and tugged the thick comforter up over her chest. “He’s fine. As for what happened…if I understand it correctly, you saved Matt’s life. You got shot in the shoulder doing it.” Elin’s voice faltered, and she looked away from Anna with shining eyes. “Kael carried you back to the house. And then I helped Kate remove the bullet and repair your wound.” Elin’s voice hinted at so much unsaid.

“Some rescue attempt, huh?” Anna could hear the self-recrimination in her voice. “I end up pointing an empty gun at someone who sees right through my bluff. Such a hero.” She lowered her eyes to Kael, who continued to sleep. Anna fought down a niggle of worry that her lover was injured, sure that Elin would tell her if that were the case.

“Hey.” Elin took her hand. “Kael told me that your bluff bought everyone enough time to let him take down Trey before he could kill Matt. And Matt’s told me more than once that you saved his life.” Elin’s mouth twitched, and she squeezed Anna’s hand. “In fact, I think the kid has a little crush on you.”