Chapter 15

Waking was a slow and painful process. Not only because my body was a maze of heated agony, but also because someone was systematically slapping my face.

We can fix that, Bear said. Just give the word.

Not until I’m sure I can move. Where am I?

In Rath Winter’s office, Cat said. He’s the one slapping you.

“Why isn’t she waking?”

The voice was deep, dark, and male. Rath Winter, I knew, simply because I’d heard his voice before, after he’d rung Sal when I was staying with him.

“You’re damn lucky she’s even alive, given the number of bullet wounds littering her body.” The second speaker was also familiar—it was Janice Harvey. “Just be thankful for small mercies, and give the drugs time to work.”

“We may not have time. We have to presume what we’re doing here is—or soon will be—common knowledge.”

“You’ve notified the authorities that there’s been a chemical spill and that the hazmat team is dealing with it.” This speaker’s voice was warm, smoky, and unfamiliar. “It buys us a couple of hours, at least.”

Winter grunted. “Unless that fucking witch uses her family connections to force the issue.”

“Which I can counter if delay is necessary.”

Winter slapped me again. My face stung and it was all I could do to remain still. To have any hope of getting free and out of here, I had to at least be able to walk. And that meant I needed to heal. Whether that was possible given Winter’s determination to force me awake was another matter entirely.

I tried to concentrate, to ignore the pain in my body, the heat in my feet, the restricting tightness of the rope that bound my arms behind my back, but no matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn’t fall into the trancelike state that was necessary for healing.

My face stung with the force of another blow. I swore silently. Healed or not, I was going to get out of here. But not before I killed the bastard hitting me.

“How much fucking longer is this going to take?” Winter said.

“Going by the vital signs, she’s waking, so not long.”

Meaning I was not only tied but hooked up to monitoring machines.

Via an IV in your wrists and monitors on your chest and temples, Cat said.

None of which I could feel right now. But they wouldn’t provide much in the way of impediment once my hands were free. Who else is in the room?

Winter, Harvey, and the two guards who escorted you up to the twenty-ninth floor, Bear said. There’s also two guards on the other side of the door.

And plenty more between the ground floor and us. To get out I was going to need more than luck, especially in my current condition.

What about the other woman I heard?

She’s watching via a comm unit.

Of course she was. It was too much to hope that all my targets would be nearby. They weren’t that stupid.

And Sal?

Still downstairs, with his body.

Which was something of a surprise. While new ghosts did tend to stick close to their remains in the weeks or even months after their death, I’d expected Sal to want revenge deeply enough to be here, watching. Does that mean the acid and the fire didn’t consume his flesh?

It is mostly destroyed, Cat replied. Just feet, skull, and a few fingers remain.

Which might still give them enough to work with if this place wasn’t shut down. Are the guards here armed?

Yes.

What happened to my weapons?

They threw them on the table along with your clothes.

So I’m naked? Not that it really mattered. Nudity and I were old companions.

Yes—and in your own skin.

No surprise there. With my energy levels so low, my body would have instinctively reverted to preserve strength. Entry and exit points?

Aside from the main doors, there are exits to the right and the left.

Fire escapes?

No. They lead to the rooms that hold the false rifts.

Someplace I did not want to go. Not in this condition. What about the wounds?

You healed your back, calf, and thigh when you were unconscious, Cat said. But there are many more wounds on your torso that still bleed.

That wasn’t entirely surprising, given how many times I’d been hit by bullets and metal shards, but how in Rhea had my body even healed the three worst wounds? I had to be in the healing state, not an unconscious one, for that to happen. Is it possible for one of you to untie my hands without anyone noticing?

There was a slight hesitation, and then Bear said, If you wake and talk to them, their attention will be on you rather than on what might be happening behind you.

Keep an eye on the guards, then, Cat. Warn Bear if they look our way.

Will do.

I groaned softly, let my neck roll back and my eyes flutter open.

“Finally,” Winter muttered.

He stood in front of me, a thin-faced man with shadowed skin, magnetic blue eyes, and a ragged, ugly scar that ran down the side of his face from his temple to his jaw. I’d seen scars like that before, on the remains of those who’d been unfortunate enough to come across a wraith. Winter had been the closest to the wraith when he and the others encountered it in the rift, and the fact that he’d survived was testament to his strength and his courage. It was also a warning that I should not underestimate him.

I looked past him. Harvey was standing slightly to his left, watching the various monitors.

I blinked, swallowed, then said, “Who the hell are you?”

My voice was little more than a rasp of air, the question almost inaudible. Winter raised an eyebrow and glanced at Harvey. She adjusted a dial; cold liquid raced into my veins and the chill sent shivers through my body. I had no idea what it was, but my heart began beating faster and I suddenly felt stronger. How long that feeling would last I had no idea, but I suspected I better make use of it while I could.

Bear, untie the ropes. Cat, go over to the table with the guns. If the guards move, unleash hell.

My pleasure.

I lifted my gaze and met Winter’s. He smiled; it was the sort of expression a cat gave its prey a second before it devoured it.

“I’m surprised you haven’t guessed.”

Energy began tugging at the bindings on my wrists. “Oh, I know you’re one of Sal’s partners. I just don’t know who or what you were before you killed Rath Winter and stole his life.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That is not important. What did you do with the two children you stole from us?”

I echoed his expression, mocking him. “That hardly matters, given you won’t ever get your hands on them again.” I switched my gaze to Harvey. “Why are you helping these people? What do you gain out of giving the vampires light immunity?”

“I get the satisfaction of seeing the shifters annihilated,” she said. “I get to see them torn apart, as my kin were torn apart in the war.”

I frowned. “You’re not old enough to have been alive in the war.”

“No, but my grandparents were war survivors. The things they saw . . . It changed them.”

Embittered them, from the sound of it, and they’d passed it on to their children and grandchildren. “The vampires won’t just kill shifters. They’ll destroy us all.”

“Not us. We have a deal with them.”

Almost there, Bear said.

I glanced at Winter. “How in hell did you get her to swallow that sort of bullshit? Because you and I know once the light no longer stops them, the vampires will run amok.”

He smiled. Chills skidded down my spine. There was nothing pleasant about that look. Nothing human about the light in his eyes.

“It’s not difficult when it’s the truth.” He lunged forward, wrapped his fingers around my neck, and shoved his face close to mine. His breath, filled with dead things, washed across my face. “Where are the children?”

“I don’t know.” It came out as a wheeze. “We were met by mercenaries out on the old City Road, and they were taken away.”

The bastard’s grip tightened. “Who took them away?”

“I don’t know. Nuri doesn’t exactly share information like that with someone like me.” My hands were beginning to tingle as the ties binding them loosened and blood rushed back into my fingers.

Nearly done. There was weariness in Bear’s mental tones. I’d pushed them to their limits today, and it made my heart want to weep. Especially given that it wasn’t over yet.

Winter stared at me, his gaze boring into mine, as if trying to unearth the secrets from my brain. After a moment, he snorted and released me. “No, I guess she wouldn’t. Especially when she’s got shifters on her staff. It’s a wonder you’re still alive.”

“She needs me.” Cat, I added silently. Get ready to toss me one of the assault rifles.

“Give her the truth drug.” Winter turned and walked across to the huge desk that dominated the other side of the room.

Undone, Bear said.

Cat, get ready. I waited until Harvey’s concentration was on the monitors rather than me, then ripped the IVs from my arm and threw myself sideways. I was out of the chair and rolling away from it even before it hit the floor. As Winter twisted around, Cat tossed me the rifle. I plucked it from the air, flipped it around, and unleashed at the guards. As they went down, the doors opened and two more men spilled into the room. I shot them as well, then jackknifed around and aimed at Winter. But he’d already disappeared behind the rather old-fashioned but solid-looking wooden desk. A second later, an alarm sounded, its shriek so loud it hurt my ears.

“Help is on its way,” Winter shouted. “There’s no escape for you, Tiger. This time, you will die.”

“Like fuck I will.”

I tore the remaining monitors from my chest and temples and sat up. I couldn’t see Winter, but Harvey was cowering behind one of the monitors, her expression terrified.

“Please,” she said. “I can help you . . .”

“Like you helped the children? Like you helped those women being dissected on the tables?” She didn’t reply, which only increased my fury. “How can you justify what is happening here? How can you even sleep at night, knowing what is being done to those women, let alone to the children?”

“They are shifters—”

“They are children,” I yelled, and, without a second thought, shot her.

As she fell lifeless to the floor, I grabbed the chair and used it as a brace as I forced my battered body upright. It hurt. Everything hurt. But that wasn’t going to stop me from confronting the man cowering behind the desk. Nothing would, not even the guards who were undoubtedly on their way thanks to that damn alarm.

The effort of standing left me light-headed. I sucked in several large gulps of air, then hobbled toward the desk. My two little ghosts joined me, their energy tingling across my skin, offering moral support but not strength. They were too close to exhaustion themselves.

And, Rhea help us all, I still needed their help.

Cat, I said, my gaze not wavering from the desk and the man still hiding behind it. Go to the foyer and let me know when the reinforcements get here. Bear, close the doors and then see if you can find some way to short them out.

As they raced off, I raised the rifle and shot at the desk. The bullet thudded into the wood, sending deadly splinters flying but doing little else. As I drew closer, I realized why. The desk might look like valuable wood, but underneath its skin lay metal—and not just any metal but, from the look of it, armored plating. No wonder the bastard was hiding behind it. I took a step sideways, and saw that the foot well area had been totally sealed. Winter obviously had every intention of sitting inside his safe little box until reinforcements got here.

“Well, well, well,” a sultry, smoky voice said. “Sal was right. You are extremely resourceful.”

My gaze jerked up to the light screen on the desk. The speaker was the dark-skinned woman I’d followed into the rift at Carleen—the one that had led to Government House. As my gaze met the green of hers, that odd sense of familiarity ran through me again. “I know you.”

“No surprise, given you followed me into the rift,” she said. “How did you manage that?”

“Magic.” I limped around the desk, studying the bolts holding it in place. There were only two—one at either side rather than at each of the corners—but they were sturdy and undoubtedly drilled deep into the concrete.

“Give up the children, Tiger, and we might just let you live.”

“I’ve seen your version of living in the labs downstairs,” I replied. “Thanks, but no, thanks.”

Guards are here, Cat said. Ten in each elevator.

Bear?

Almost—he paused—sealed.

I limped to the nearest bolt, aimed the assault rifle, and fired repeatedly. Dust and concrete flew, becoming a cloud thick enough to make me cough. By the time the clip had run out, a deep trench had been dug around the bolt. Bear carried over more ammo; I reloaded and continued.

The men are outside the door, Cat warned. They are attempting to break in.

It’ll take them a while to do that. If Winter—or whoever he truly was—had fortified his desk, I was pretty sure he would have done the same to the doors.

I kept firing at the concrete, until the ends of the bolts were finally revealed. I repeated the process on the other side, using every scrap of ammo I had, then pulled the two anchoring bolts free and tossed them to one side.

“You can shoot all you want, but it won’t do you any good,” Winter said into the silence. “This cabinet is fully sealed and impregnable.”

“Maybe,” I said. “And maybe not.”

I limped over to the two dead guards, picked up their weapons, then limped back. The woman was still watching me, her expression amused; condescending. It made me wish I could reach into the light screen and throttle her.

“I do not understand what you hope to achieve here,” she said. “You’re trapped and you will die. You know it, I know it.”

“What I know,” I said, “is that the person currently known as Rath Winter is about to die. And when I’ve done that, I’m coming after you. And that’s a promise.”

I raised the handgun and shot the control box sitting on the top of the desk. The light screen flickered, then died. I clipped the weapon to my belt, then pressed my hands against one end of the desk and heaved with all my might. The desk slid several feet forward, but the effort left my head swimming. I sucked in a breath and pushed again. Another few feet forward.

Inside his metal fortress, Winter squawked, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You said the desk was impregnable,” I replied, with another push. Something tore in my calf and warmth began to pulse down my leg. I ignored it. “But I’m figuring it’s not immune to the laws of gravity or a thirty-floor drop.”

Bear joined me at the end of the desk, and together we moved it another few feet forward.

“You can’t have taken out the windows. They’re bulletproof.”

“You keep thinking that, if it makes you feel any better.”

We shifted the desk again, but this time little more than a few inches. I let my head drop and sucked in air. My body was trembling with fatigue. I was soaked with blood and sweat, and almost out of time.

I was trapped in this office as Winter was in his box.

A sharp, almost metallic whine bit into the silence. They’re using a drill on the locks, Cat said. They said it will take ten minutes.

Which meant I had half of that to finish my task here and figure a way out.

But how?

If Winter held his nerve and stayed in his box, then everything I’d done here—everything I’d gone through—was for naught. Fury rose and I shoved at the desk violently.

As I did, Bear screamed, Duck!

I obeyed without question. The windows lining Winter’s office exploded inward, showering the room with a deadly rain of glass. When it stopped, I carefully peered around the edge of the desk.

All that remained of the windows immediately in front of the desk were the broken remnants of the frames that had once held them. I guess the windows weren’t bulletproof after all.

I glanced beyond them and saw—standing on the rooftop of the building opposite and holding the biggest damn gun I’d ever seen—Jonas.

And he was waving.

Bear, go see what he wants. I heaved the desk again. This time, it slid right to the very edge. A few feet more and we’d all find out how well metal boxes could fly.

The guards are almost through, Cat warned. You have a few minutes, if that.

I braced myself for one more effort, but before I could do anything, the back of the desk opened and the rat threw himself out of his hole.

I grabbed my weapon and fired, but my hands were shaking so badly I got everything except Winter. He rolled to his feet and sprinted away. I kept firing; the bullets nipped at his heels but did no damage.

Jonas says run, Bear said.

I glanced across at the other building, saw Jonas raise what looked like a bazooka, and bolted, with every scrap of speed I could muster, for the nearest side door—one on the opposite side of the room from Winter.

The guards are through, Cat screamed. Run faster!

I couldn’t. There was nothing left in the tank now. The main doors were kicked open and men flowed into the room. There was no time for finesse now; I launched myself at the side door, twisted around, and hit it feetfirst. A scream of pain tore up my throat, but the door slammed back hard and I was through. As I hit the ground and rolled to the side, there was a huge whoomp behind me, and the office literally exploded. I threw my hands over my head, my ears ringing as heat and concrete and Rhea only knows what else punched through the air. As silence and dust began to fall around me, I crawled back to the wall and peered around the door. All I could see were shattered remnants, be they building or men.

Cat, where’s Winter?

Wait. Then. Crawling toward the other rift.

For Rhea’s sake, why wouldn’t the bastard just die? Then the rest of her sentence impacted and I became aware of the sting of energy across my skin. I slowly turned. Sitting in the middle of the long, wide room was the biggest damn rift I’d ever seen. This time there was no inky wall of darkness to hide its presence, and its gelatinous, gently spinning surface ran with ragged thrusts of foul-looking lightning. It felt dark, dangerous, and I couldn’t help wondering if this was one rift I was better off leaving alone.

But that was a question for another day.

I sucked in a breath and then, using the wall as a brace, pushed upright. My head swam and my knees buckled. I swore and concentrated on remaining upright. On remaining conscious.

“Tiger?”

Jonas’s voice. I waved a hand; I didn’t dare do anything more, lest I topple.

Footsteps approached and then he appeared, an angel dressed in full corps battle gear. He lifted his visor. His expression was grim, his eyes hard. “You’re a mess.”

“But a mess that’s alive, thanks to you.” My voice came out scratchy. Hoarse. I swallowed heavily, but it didn’t seem to help the aching dryness in my throat. “Why are you here?”

“Because I knew you were in trouble.”

“You knew? Not Nuri?”

“Call it a shared realization. And no, I will not explain that right now.” Amusement glimmered briefly in his eyes. I wondered if he’d caught the half-formed thought, or whether he simply knew me well enough to guess. “Corps are evacuating the building, and despite the uniform I’ve borrowed, we aren’t out of the woods yet. Let’s get out of here.”

“We can’t—”

“Tiger—” Exasperation filled his voice. “We have only a small window of confusion in which to make—”

“Winter’s alive,” I cut in. “And heading for a rift.”

Something entered his eyes. Something that was as dark as the rift in the room and just as deadly. “That,” he said softly, “cannot be allowed.”

“No.” I pushed myself away from the wall. “Let’s go.”

“You are in no state—”

“Ranger, just stop arguing and do as I ask for once.”

“If all déchet had been as stubborn as you, we might have lost the war.” He shouldered his weapon, then shoved an arm around my body to support me as we headed into the broken remains of Winter’s office.

“Stubbornness is born out of emotion and having something to care about,” I replied. “Most déchet had neither of those.”

“Or you just got more than your fair share of it,” he muttered.

I smiled, then caught sight of the jet pack sitting on top of Winter’s desk. “How did you get that? I thought they were rarer than hen’s teeth.”

“They are these days, but I’ve been a mercenary for a very long time.” He skirted around a huge chunk of ceiling concrete. “There isn’t much I can’t get my hands on.”

Hurry, Cat said. Winter is near the rift. It spins.

Jonas must have heard her, because he cursed, swung me fully into his arms, and ran. We all but flew across the rest of the office and through the open doorway into the next room. This was a replica of the one on the other side, but the rift here was slightly smaller. Winter was midway down the room, dragging his body toward the slowly spinning rift, leaving in his wake a bloody trail. Both his feet had been blown off.

Jonas deposited me against the nearest wall, then strode forward, grabbed Winter by his calves, and dragged him back.

Winter screamed and fought, kicking and punching, to little effect. Jonas simply dragged him back to me, then planted a heavy boot on the back of Winter’s neck, mashing his face into the carpet. Winter continued to scream, but the sound was muffled and accompanied by odd gurgling sounds.

Jonas’s gaze rose to mine. “Do you want the honor?”

I sucked in a deep breath, then slowly shook my head. “You do it.”

For Penny, and for all the other children. I didn’t say those words, but I didn’t need to. He heard them anyway. I saw it in his eyes.

He flipped his rifle from over his shoulder, aimed, and fired.

Rath Winter’s head exploded and his body stilled.

The bastard was finally dead.

Relief swept me, a tide so strong my knees buckled and I fell sideways. Jonas swore and lunged forward, somehow managing to catch me before I hit the bloody floor.

“Now we get you out of here.” His voice was grim. “Corps are on their way up. We can’t be found here—they had orders not to enter this floor.”

Orders given by the woman with the smoky voice and leaf green eyes, no doubt.

“If the jet pack can’t be traced back to you, leave it,” I said. “Take me down to twenty-nine instead.”

He took off his coat and wrapped it around my body, then swung me into his arms again and strode back into the office. “What’s down there?”

“Dissections.” I rested the side of my face against his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. It was an oddly soothing sound. “And women who can still be saved.”

I hoped.

“There’s only one woman I care about saving right now.” His voice was grim. “You need urgent medical attention—”

“I can heal myself, but they can’t. Please, Jonas. It’ll be our way out. Bear, show him.”

After several moments, Jonas swore. He shifted his grip on me, then punched the elevator call button and said in a gruff voice that wasn’t his own, “This is four-five. I’ve reached the twenty-ninth floor. I need medical teams in hazmat suits up here immediately. I’m bringing one badly injured woman down, but there are at least six others needing urgent attention.”

I didn’t hear the response. Jonas was obviously wearing an earpiece. The elevator door opened, and he stepped inside and pressed the ground-floor button before waving what looked like a plastic card across the scanner. The doors closed and the elevator quickly began to descend.

But not as quickly as the darkness descending on me. But this time it was okay. I was safe. My two little ghosts were safe. Jonas would get us all out of here, and I would recover.

I had to recover.

I had a promise to keep.