Chapter Eighteen
The more time that passed, the more nervous Nikon grew. He was glad to have Tycho there with him, but the enemy had already gotten to Leah, it might not be enough.
He roamed the halls as quickly as he could, avoiding people at every turn. The halls grew darker as he moved to the back of the school. One lone light at the end of the hall led the way.
Nikon breathed in deeply. The faint scent of vanilla filled the air. Leah had to be close, and he was betting she was behind the giant ass doors at the end of the hall. He raced down the hall and threw open the doors with a growl.
The heavy scent of Leah and two men filled the air.
Nikon frowned. One scent smelled like the headmaster he had met earlier. If that son of a bitch had done anything to Leah, the hybrid would rip his fucking throat out with his bare hands.
A sound behind him made him turn, and he readied himself for the attack. Instead he found Tycho there staring at him.
“She was here,” Nikon said.
Tycho frowned. “They must be moving her to a vehicle for transportation to the facility where the process them. We need to find her before that happens. Once she’s there, there’s nothing I can do.”
Nikon nodded.
Tycho pulled out a gun from his shoulder holster and handed it to Nikon. “Shoot first. We don’t have time to play this quietly.”
It wasn’t ideal considering where they were and how fast the police would be called, but in this situation, there really wasn’t much choice. He nodded at the other man.
They quietly made their way back into the hall, following Leah’s scent.
* * *
Her head throbbed as Leah awakened. Whatever they had injected her with left her feeling slightly groggy and sick to her stomach. She leaned over to the side and vomited.
“Watch the shoes,” said a familiar voice. She could almost hear the sneer.
Leah looked up from where she sat and found the headmaster standing next to her. His disapproving stare bore into her.
Her first instinct was to tell him sorry until she remembered just why she even felt ill in the first place. She wished that she’d vomited right on him.
They were outside now. The air was chilly, and her lovely velvet dress was likely ruined by sitting on the ground. This was not at all how she had planned to spend the evening.
“What are we doing?” Leah asked after a few moments of trying to pull out the words that were jumbled in her head.
“You are waiting on your transportation out of here,” he said.
Leah frowned. He said it as if this wasn’t kidnapping. As if she were just waiting for her ride after getting drunk. To anyone nearby, that was likely exactly what it would look like. The lush of a new teacher got loaded and her male co-worker was just taking her home like a gentleman.
She snorted loudly. “So what’s in it for you? You’re not a fake, I’m presuming, unlike Matt.”
The headmaster’s face twitched, and he seemed a little distraught by her question, as if it were beneath him to resort to something like this. Leah might have laughed if the sound wouldn’t hurt her head.
“Sometimes these things just happen,” he said.
Leah raised a brow. “So sometimes kidnapping a woman just happens when you’re around?”
The man puffed up his chest. “It’s my duty to make ensure the survival of this school,” he said loudly. “I was bestowed a duty to ensure the well being of this school. I know some people can’t understand the honor that entails, but that would require a higher class of person I guess.” He sniffed disdainfully.
Leah struggled to her feet, but the effects of the drug kept her knees weak and destroyed her sense of balance.
“Seriously?” she said. “You’ve drugged me and are waiting to send me off to God knows where, and you have the balls to talk to me about class? Fuck you, you asshole.”
The headmaster gasped at her use of language. His face pinched in rage.
“I shouldn’t be surprised you’d act this way,” he said, “considering the type of animal you chose to associate with regularly.”
Anger pulsed through her at the small-minded man in front of her. Leah did the only thing she could think of, she hauled back and punched him right in his smug face.
The blow landed squarely on the nose, releasing a spray of blood. Her hand hurt like hell, but she was glad to see him stumbling backward, holding his face, his face scrunched in pain.
“Oh, you cunt,” he shouted. “I think you broke my nose.”
Leah struggled to her feet. She was able to brace herself against a side wall, but taking steps was going to be more than a challenge.
“Good!” she shouted. “I hope I did break your nose!”
The headmaster pulled out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and held it over the gushing blood. Clear bruising was forming around his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Not to mention that his glasses looked like they would never be the same shape again.
He reached out and gripped her tightly. She could already feel the marks starting to form as he twisted her arm.
“You think you’re so smart,” he said. “Well, I’m not the whore who’s being sold down river. I’m the one who’s going to be sitting on a fat pile of cash in all this while they experiment on you in some godforsaken country.”
“So it was all about the money after all,” Leah spat out. “For as much as you try to act all superior, you don’t have a penny to your name.” She smiled smugly at him.
He shook he hard as he stepped closer to where she was. He shoved his bloody face in front of her own.
“Of course it’s about the money,” the man said. “This school is just the start. With the money they are paying, there’s no limit to where I could go.”
Leah laughed loudly this time and only stopped when he shook her so hard her teeth rattled.
“You’ll always just be the headmaster of this shitty school in their eyes and nothing more,” she said with venom. “And you won’t even be that for much longer.”
A couple made their way through the parking lot not far away. The headmaster had been so concerned with showing her up, he hadn’t been doing his job of keeping an eye out.
“Help!” Leah shouted, her head spinning. “Rape! The headmaster is holding me against my will!”
His head snapped over to where she was looking. They watched as the couple turned to stare at them.
“Please!” Leah screamed. “Call the police! The headmaster is hurting me!”
“You little cunt,” he said while twisting her arm. “Shut your damned mouth.”
“No.”
She looked him dead in the eye. It was better to end up with a broken arm than to be taken away. Not to mention that the more commotion she made, the more likely it was that Nikon would find her.
“Help! Please!” she shouted again.
The man from the couple ran toward, a deep frown on his face. A loud pop echoed through the air. The man fell instantly. A scream could be heard before two more pops rang through the air, and the woman fell.
“What are you doing?” the headmaster shouted.
Headmaster Williams let go of her arm and raced over to where the couple now lay crumpled on the ground, blood spreading from their chests. The man stared up from the ground, eyes open and not breathing.
She looked over toward the source of the noise. Matt stood next to the now familiar black car, gun still in hand.
“I’m completing the mission,” he said coldly.
Williams shook as he tried to search for a pulse on the man. Leah sank to the ground. Her legs finally giving out on her.
“They’re dead,” the headmaster said. “Do you know what you’ve done, you fool? They were Grayson and Anita Babcock.”
Matt shrugged. “They were a problem,” he said coolly. “I took care of them.”
Bile rose in her throat as she listened to him. How could this be the same man she’d joked with during break? The two personalities just didn’t mesh into one in her head.
Matt stared directly at her as he bypassed the two dead bodies on the ground. “Now we just need to finish the mission before more annoyances happen.”
“Annoyances?” the headmaster nearly shrieked. “They were some of the biggest donors to the school. How am I supposed to explain this?”
Matt shrugged as he continued toward Leah. “Not my fucking problem,” he said as he stepped in front of her. “Let’s go, princess.”
Leah shook her head as she scooted away from the man. “Please,” she whispered. “Please don’t do this.”
Matt squatted down in front of her. “Look,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed our time together, and if these Russian pricks weren’t paying a fortune, I would have had other things in mind for us.” Her stomach heaved at the idea of being with this monster. That he even thought it would have been a possibility was beyond her. “But I can’t turn down money like this, so stand up.”
Leah shook her head again. She wasn’t going to just go because he asked.
Matt sighed loudly. “Look, I don’t want to have to damage the goods, so get up on your own, and I won’t.”
Leah pressed herself hard against the wall. The rough surface of the brick scrapped against her back.
Matt stood and frowned down at her. “Funny,” he said after a moment. “I thought you’d be more compliant than this. Maybe we would have had more fun together than I thought.”
His hand shot out to her arm, and he yanked her hard to her feet. Leah let out a yelp as her shoulder popped loudly. Pain coursed through her as her arm now dangled at her side.
“Learned that move from a buddy.” Matt laughed. “Pops it right out of the socket. Hurts like hell but still easily fixable.”
Tears trailed down her face as she looked up to him. His face was cold and unfeeling.
“Now move,” he said firmly.
Leah put one foot in front of the other as she made her way over to the car. Her whole body throbbed with each step.
“One more step, and I blow your leg off.”
She knew that voice. Leah let out a cry of relief as she turned and found Nikon standing over Williams. His body lay slumped down on the ground near the dead couple, but he still seemed to be breathing.
Her relief was quickly replaced by fear as Matt shoved her to the ground and raised his gun.
The blast rang in her ears as she fell to the ground.