Wiped (16 page)

He’d taught him to survive the only way Zhang Yong could.

“Here!” Jungie exclaimed, pointing to a flashing red dot on a map. “This is the Färi, where Hwei-ru works.”

“Is it tall?” Trent asked sardonically.

“Very,” the young boy replied, not noticing Trent’s drawl. “The tallest building in Hammurg.”

Trent turned to look at me. I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, Elite?” he said. “Let’s go crash the party.”

T
he Färi wasn’t
as tall as we were used to in Wánměi.
But it was tall for Hammurg. And well guarded. I rubbed a hand over my soot smeared face, and then scratched at my rat’s nest head of hair. Bits of plaster and dust floated down all around me. I scowled at it and then glanced up at Lena.

She looked remarkably good, even if her suit was damaged and a streak of soot marred the pale skin on her cheek. Her hair was still in relatively good order, blonde strands hanging straight down her back. Bright blue eyes dancing with anticipation. Soft lips parted, which she licked quickly now.

I reached forward without conscious thought and ran my thumb over the bottom one. Her eyes flicked to my face and she smiled.

How could she look so stunning in the middle of a war zone? How was she really mine?

I smiled back.

“There is a servants’ entrance,” Jungie announced, indicating where on the vid-screen. “Sometimes I wait for Hwei-ru to finish work at this door. She sneaks home little mints for me to eat. When she can.”

And risked getting an “X” inked into her skin. From the huge smile on the small lad’s face, the risk would no doubt have seemed worthwhile to his older sister. I wasn’t one to feel heartache easily, but I was sure that was what I was feeling now.

“Where would they hold prisoners?” Lena asked the boy.

He frowned, looked the blueprints over for the building, and then pointed to a section well away from the servants’ hall.

“They’d keep them contained. Apart from the Füri themselves, but also isolated from staff,” I said. “You never know who might rebel.”

“And the Elite wouldn’t want to see them at all,” Lena added.

“This floor is a long way from the servants’ area,” I commented.

“We’re not going in that way,” Lena announced.

“We’re not?”

She shook her head at me, and then learned forward to dust off my shoulder and flatten the creases in my suit.

“We’ll be using the front door.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered. “Have you seen the size of the guns on those drones?” I nodded towards the front entrance, which we could just make out from our hiding place.

“Hard to miss,” she quipped. “But you’re missing the point.”

“Which is?”

“We look Elite. Or, at least, we’re dressed like the Füri. And those are drones.”

“I know they’re drones, Lena. They’re fucking big and metallic.”

She sighed. “They’re also unstable.”

I glanced back at the drone manning the front door.

“It’s got a helmet on, we can’t attack its Shiloh chip without removing it.”

“That would defeat the purpose of waltzing in there as Elite.”

I narrowed my eyes at the woman. She was enjoying this.

“OK, I’ll bite,” I groused. “What’s your plan?”

“We confuse it. Or at least, we make the u-Pol officer operating it believe it’s confused.”

A slow smile started to spread my lips. It’d be risky. Not to mention difficult, considering we didn’t speak Teiamanisch. But it was classic Lena Carr. Walk in through the front door, holding your chin up high, and acting as if you belong there.

The funny thing is, Lena could do it. She’d done something similar a hundred times before.

But this was dangerous. More dangerous than the possibility of being wiped. This could mean our death.

I let a long breath of air out and turned to look down at Jungie.

“We need a quick lesson in Teiamanisch, kid. You up for it?”

I was beginning to really like that gap-toothed smile.

Jungie translated a couple of essential one-liners, and then we straightened our clothes, wiped off any tell-tale marks, and lifted our chins.

We made it half a dozen steps across the open square in front of the Färi before the drone raised his laser gun at us and shouted a warning.

It was a word we hadn’t asked Jungie to translate, but the tone said it all. Halt!

Lena and I froze; an instant reaction. And then the Elite in her clicked in.

“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded, in the haughty tones of upper class Teiamanisch. “How dare you? Do you not know who I am?”

The drone’s laser gun didn’t lower, but the hesitation in reply said it all. Even Cardinals in Wánměi baulked at an irate Elite. It was no different in Urip.

“I have been shot at. Accosted. And now your drone is attempting to insult me.”

Lena on a rant was a thing of beauty. Lena ranting in Teiamanisch was wicked sexy.

“And look! Now the laser gun is powering up. Stop that! You cannot shoot me!”

The drone jolted where it stood. The helmeted head shifting so the u-Pol officer operating it could look down at the laser gun on its arm.

“Can you not control that thing?” Lena demanded, storming closer. She rapped stridently on the arm containing the laser gun, making sure the camera lens was focused on the barcode tattoo inside her forearm.

The drone’s head slowly rose to look Lena in the eye. It was definitely creepy.

“Stand aside!” Lena ordered. The last of her rehearsed Teiamanisch sentences.

This was it. If the drone started asking questions, we’d be in trouble. I knew Jungie had hung around to see if we made it inside. And I also knew he’d attempt to be a hero and come to our aid should it all turn to custard. But I was certain neither Lena nor I could stomach that.

My hand itched to draw my own laser gun, but getting in without raising an alarm was essential. Stealth was Lena’s forte. She might have become a rebel like me, but she’d always be better suited to the life of a cat-burglar.

A sexy as fuck cat-burglar, but that was beside the point.

The drone said something. It made absolutely no sense. But the laser gun had been lowered and the machine stepped aside, leaving a clear path through the front door of the Färi. Lena nodded her head regally, swept past the metallic monster, and strode inside.

I relaxed my tight fist, stretched my fingers above my laser gun, and followed.

The door closed behind us with a muted click. The drone didn’t follow.

We immediately made our way to the emergency stairs, avoiding the lifts. The building was old, like most of Hammurg was. Stone floors, thick walls, and warped windows. Light filtered in through stained glass, casting the stairwell treads in reds and blues and yellows. We’d decided not to pull our laser guns, in case we met traffic. Acting Elite was the better course for now. But no one used the stairs and in short order we reached the floor where the captives were held.

Leaning back against the wall of the stairwell, we watched through a tiny gap in the doorway as u-Pol, not drones, marched down the hall.

“What now?” I asked, my hand resting above the laser gun.

“Now we do it your way,” Lena said with a soft smile.

My eyes met hers, as I let the door slowly and quietly close beside us, and then I took the steps necessary to be at her side.

“There’s a lot of them,” I pointed out. “And only two of us.”

I longed to touch her. To hold her. To kiss her one last time.

I held back. This was hardly the time to get amorous.

Lena drew her laser gun and power it up. So fucking sexy.

“When has that ever stopped you, Trent?” she asked.

I knew she was referring to the fact we were outnumbered, but in that moment my mind was fixated on something else. Fixated on the only thing that mattered.

I reached forward, wrapped a hand around her hair at her nape, and tilted her head, lifting her lips to mine. The kiss was hot and hard and conveyed everything I wanted to say but was too scared to. I devoured her mouth, tasting heaven. I nibbled and bit her lips, soothing the sting with a lick of my tongue. I lost myself in her touch, in her scent. In Lena. She held on, kissing me back with equal desire.

We drew apart slowly, gasping for breath as I leaned my forehead against hers.

“I love you, baby,” I whispered. She made a small noise. If I didn’t know Lena better, I would have thought it was a sob. It
had
sounded a little like I was saying goodbye.

“I love you too,” she murmured, reaching up and softly brushing her lips against mine. We pulled apart, looking less Elite now than ever. She smiled, a truly magnificent and stunning smile. Then said, “Don’t die.”

I snorted. Drew my laser gun, fired it up, and reached for the door handle.

“Not a chance,” I drawled. “You’re gonna finish what you just started.”

She smirked, let her eyes coast over my body eagerly, and then back up to my lips.

“Sounds like a plan,” she quipped.

“There, see? Now we know what we’re doing. Shoot to kill. Free our guys. Load up Calvin. And then make out afterwards. It’s practically a done deal.”

An arched brow was my only reply.

I took one last look at the woman who had stolen every decent part of me. The woman I strove to be better for. The woman I loved with all of my heart. Lena was an extraordinary creature. One that called people to her. Made them risk life and limb to do what was right. She was
everything
I pictured our future to be.

Lena was life.

The weight of what we were about to do came crashing down on me. I paused. Lena reached forward and cupped her hand over mine.

“For the better of the people,” she said.

“For the future of Wánměi,” I replied. Wánměi might just be one nation, but what it stood for was so much more.

I nodded my head. Lena reciprocated.

And then we through the door and firing.

Laser lights arcing through the air. Screams and shouts sounding out as plaster cracked and bricks flew apart, sharp shards flying into our eyes. We ducked and rolled, separating as soon as we came through the doorway. Covering both sides of the hallway. Laser touting u-Pol were everywhere, but for a few seconds we’d caught them well and truly off guard.

A few precious seconds where we managed to cut a swathe of damage through their ranks.

But they rallied. The smell of chemicals burning and plastic melting met my nose. A sharp sting of pain lanced across my shoulder. I kept firing. Smoke wafted up all around us, making it hard to see what we were shooting at. But I knew Lena was off to my right, and the guards still firing doggedly at us were straight ahead. So I kept firing.

The laser guns heated up as the seconds ticked by. But there was no chance of allowing them to cool in between bouts of fire. I crawled forward, shouting a command to Lena, hoping with all of my frantically beating heart that she’d comply.

Inch by inch we covered more ground, checking our periphery as we came to open doors. There was no sign of our guys. The minutes ticked by slowly, even though we were caught in a maelstrom of laser light. And as we both swapped out our burned laser guns for new ones, pilfered off fallen u-Poll officers, I began to wonder if this had been a wild goose chase. If we’d blasted our way into a heavily armed floor of the Färi for no real reason at all.

But then I heard them. Shouting. Egging us on. Screaming in Anglisc, so different from the harshly spoken words being hurled at us by the u-Pol. And then a siren started up, blocking out their encouragement, making my heart race faster; time was running out.

I spun and fired down the hall behind us, unsure if we were being flanked or not. But the sirens had caused a spot between my shoulder blades to start itching. That stairwell had been unlocked; it had no keypad to destroy, preventing further access. Anyone could barge through behind us. The only security they seemed to have up here were cameras mounted on the ceiling, laser wielding u-Pol guards, and whatever cell-like structure they had our men contained in.

I picked up another laser gun from a downed officer, firing two at once. Sweat dripped into my eyes, my breaths were coming in ragged pants. That sting on my shoulder had turned into a numbness. My arm progressively becoming heavier, until it was obvious that some of the guards carried Mikhail’s kind of gun.

“Watch for the laser light,” I shouted at Lena, which was a ridiculous thing to say, considering. “It’s a paralytic.”

I couldn’t see her, but I knew she’d been firing. It was only in that second, when I’d called the warning out, that I realised she’d stopped shooting back.

“Lena?”

“Too late,” I think she said. “I already know,” she managed to mumble.

I’m not sure what happened next. But I knew alone I couldn’t hold them back. The thought of Lena lying on the floor of this God forsaken building, in this God forsaken city, having been shot by these God forsaken bastards, made me mad.

I saw red.

A haze of crimson covered my eyes. It could have been blood. It was more likely sweat. These efficient arsehole cauterised.

A rumble of something anguished and primal swept up from deep down inside. I opened my mouth, a roar of defiance and anger spilling out. I started shooting that motherfucking laser gun like there was no tomorrow. And without Lena, there quite possible wasn’t.

I raged.

I screamed.

I shot at every single thing that moved and some that didn’t.

When my laser blitzed out, I grabbed another.

When my right arm lost all feeling, I didn’t stop. I fired harder. Faster.

When my gun faltered and a u-Pol officer took the opportunity to jump me. I beat him to a pulp with one hand.

In the end, it
was
a blood bath. Cauterising laser guns had no chance.

Red was red, after all.

I was too scared to move farther away from where I knew Lena was lying. I’d shift perhaps a metre or two, to swap out guns, but I’d retreat to cover her limp body. I couldn’t make myself go further. I couldn’t leave her. Even though I heard my father’s voice inside my mind, telling me to move. To find support. To free my men. To get backup.

To be a fucking man!

Every single intelligent thought vanished. I was a crazed animal defending his mate.

It would have ended there, I’ve no doubt. I was down to one gun, and it had already started blistering my fingers. The smell of electrical wires burning had started to make me lightheaded. Or that could have been the yelling.