Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
“It’s not working. Goddamn it, the master code’s not working.”
He glanced around Gus’s bare chest. The woman was viciously stabbing at a keypad, the little red light in the corner persisting every time she hit the # key.
“Fuck,” she said as she wheeled back around. “We’re trapped—”
Yet another explosion vibrated through the earth, and he looked up overhead. The sprinkling of concrete dust was not good news—supports were weakening throughout the subterranean lab.
He glanced at Lydia. She was terrified, but keeping it together. Gus was the same, his eyes bouncing around, but his grip steady. God, Daniel hated that he was so physically weak and they had to carry him—
“I shall go back and ensure all of your safety.”
As Blade spoke up, Daniel narrowed his stare on his old boss. “You can’t hold them off. You know what’s out there, and it’s not human.”
“As I said, I am the one they want.” The man held out the guard’s gun, handle first. “Take this, Daniel. You are the only one among them who knows how to shoot—”
Phalen snatched the weapon out of the man’s hand. With a quick series of shifts, she put the nine millimeter through its paces, checking how many bullets were in the magazine, cocking it, taking off the safety.
“No, he’s not the only one.”
Blade chuckled. “I beg your pardon, madam. Hold your position. I will attempt to get them out of the lab.”
“How,” Daniel spoke up.
“They will follow me. You all are incidental—”
“How do you know that?” Daniel held on to his Lydia a little more tightly, and thought about what he and Gus had found out in the forest, those footsteps that came from out of nowhere. “There are a lot of different people down here.”
“My cousin is the one who has invaded this facility. If I leave, he will be forced to follow. Then you may come out.”
Daniel cursed under his breath. Maybe the guy was right, maybe he was wrong.
Either way, they didn’t have many choices.
THIRTY-EIGHT
BEFORE BLADE DEPARTED the group, he focused on the wolven. She was standing by her male, supporting him in so many ways more than just the physical, his arm draped over her shoulders, her body strong enough to hold him on his feet.
Going over to her, Blade held out his hand. “This is for you. Do with her as you will.”
The female went still and glanced down at the glass container. For a moment, he thought she was not going to take his gift, but then she snatched the scorpion from his palm. As her fingers brushed his skin, his blood rushed through his veins, but he knew that he was the only one who felt anything—and a now-familiar sense of weary sadness made it easier for him to turn away and start running.
She did not thank him. Or if she did, he didn’t hear it.
“Wait,” the blond woman called out. “I need to spring the lock for you.”
The owner of the lab was mercifully light on her feet as she joined him, and when they reached the portal through which they had entered the tunnel, she was quick with the passcode. After a pause, during which he knew they both held their breath…
The lock released, and she looked up at him. “Fuck it. The master code is seven-nine-two-one-five-five-one. Use it on any keypad. Good luck—and thank you.”
Blade inhaled deeply through his nostrils, confirming, even through the smoke, that which had been readily apparent out on her terrace. Leaning in, he said softly, “It will work on you, too. Be well.”
He did not look back as he stepped out, but he made certain that the portal was re-secured before he faced off at the remarkably dangerous hallway: If Kurling or one of his machines happened to pass by the head of this offshoot, and utilize their super-keen eyesight, Blade would be a sitting duck, nothing but rooms with flimsy doors offering a momentary cover.
Dematerializing in this environment was not advisable, as it was too dangerous to re-form when one was not certain of obstacles. Besides, he was too amped up to concentrate.
Ditching his red robes, he was fleet of foot in his combat garb as he put his back against the wall and headed down past the room Daniel had been in, zeroing in on where alarms were going off and fresh smoke was curling up. As the lights overhead flickered, the strobing effect made his vision dance, but he got to the end with alacrity. Stretching off to the left, the vast open area of equipment and workplaces had been hit with some lower-end explosives, the kind that were more noise than structurally damaging. They had certainly laid waste to the previous order, however, the blown-up equipment, shattered glass, and puffs of fire making it look like an action movie set after the final showdown.