***
Connor had made a mistake.
He should have gone with Maddy. How the hell had he decided that sending her out into the clusterfuck of a city was a good idea? He raged internally, needing to know that she was safe or not.
An idea hit him as the truck sat idling in a parking lot near the Agency headquarters building. Connor had no intentions of attacking the building, but being four blocks away, he knew it would be mighty easy for him to coax an Extremis Agent into the open. For the moment, he was just waiting to make his move.
But there was something he could be doing in the meantime. He grabbed his cell and dialed a number.
“Lionshead Mining Consortium.”
“Valen please,” he said.
“I’m sorry, he’s not accepting any calls right now,” the secretary said.
“Caia, it’s Connor, S-2. This is urgent.” He gave her his designation. S-2 meant he was a Sentinel, and the second-in-command.
The line went silent.
“This is Valen.” The smooth voice that came across the phone belied the power and intelligence that its host possessed.
“Valen, Connor. I need to know if you’ve heard from tonight’s evacuation team yet.”
“No. I wasn’t aware there was one.”
Connor swore. “It was last minute. They’ll be calling soon then, I hope.”
Every evacuation team was given a number that bounced around before being redirected to Valen Kedyn’s office. He and his twin brother Marcus owned and operated Lionshead Mining Consortium, the company that effectively owned Genesis Valley. It was also the company that was providing the funds, and personnel like Connor, to assist Flint’s Underground.
When an evac team was clear of the city, they were supposed to phone it in. Connor had made sure there was a phone number written on Maddy’s information card. She hadn’t told him what it was, but she had confirmed there was one.
“Okay. I will let you know the moment I hear from them,” Valen said.
“Thank you,” he said with a sigh.
“This one is important to you?” Valen asked after a moment.
Connor hesitated, but only briefly. Valen had lived a long time. He was only asking because it was polite. “To both of us,” he replied.
“How so?” Valen asked, sounding genuinely confused.
“She’s important to me. What she’s carrying is important to all our kind.”
“What is she carrying?” Valen asked, very, very carefully.
Connor frowned. “The serum samples. The ones Flint told you about, including the new ones, the unknown, and the one that stops a shifter from healing.”
“Connor. Be very, very specific here. What new serums? What serum can stop a shifter from healing?”
He froze. “Did Flint call you?”
“No,” Valen replied. “Connor, what is going on?”
Headlights appeared in front of the truck a split second before they appeared behind it. Connor glanced in his rearview mirror, seeing the tense, nervous expression on Milos’s and Andre’s faces.
“I have to go, Valen,” he said slowly, and hung up.
“So, what did Flint tell you?” he asked calmly.
The pair glanced at each other, then slowly Andre opened his mouth. “He told us that you were the traitor among us, and that the Agency had promised you superpowers in exchange for betraying the Underground.”
Connor snorted. “Tell me that sounded as flimsy to you as it does to me?”
Andre shrugged. “I don’t know. Why are there Agency men around us now?” he asked.
“That should be obvious, I would think,” Connor replied, looking in front of the truck again.
Several men had climbed from the vehicle in front of them. There were two of them, both lounging with the dangerous body language that indicated an Extremis Agent. Behind him, he saw two more pairs of booted feet illuminated by the low-lying headlights.
“What do you mean?”
Connor could tell that neither of the men relished any thoughts about fighting him, but that their loyalty to Flint was still strong. Considering that they had been friends for several years before Connor had ever entered the picture, he could understand that.
“Flint, who is the real traitor by the way, sold us out. He told the Agency where to find us. This way, no matter who survives, you two, or me, the Agency will kill the remaining party. Flint says that proves I was the traitor, and so begins the downfall of the Underground.”
The pair frowned at each other. “Why send us with you then?” Andre asked.
“Because I wasn’t leaving without you before I knew his real leanings. It would have looked too suspicious to the others. This way he gets rid of all of you, and there is no one left at the club to stop the Agency when they go after it.”
Connor steadfastly ignored the other aspect of the sudden realization that Flint was an Agency spy. He had to force it from his mind, to forget about it, until he was out of this situation. Because if he allowed himself to dwell on the fact that it was Flint who had made Maddy’s evacuation arrangements, he didn’t know what he would do.
“So, there are two options here,” he said calmly to the other occupants of the truck. “You can try to kill me, at which point I’ll probably kill both of you. Then I’ll go out there and probably die fighting the four of them.”
The pair in the backseat exchanged unhappy glances. “Or?” Milos asked.
“Or we can get out of the truck and fight them together, and get out of here.”
The pair didn’t move.
“So,” Connor said, unbuckling his seatbelt. “What’s it going to be?”