Chapter 31
Zade spun around on the edge of the footbridge, trying to pinpoint the booming voice, until it spoke again. He heard three loud words—
Again. Oh fuck, no. Stun coded. Frozen like a fucking statue.
His anguished eyes fixed on Simone. Wild water whirled and gurgled violently under the wet planks of the narrow bridge. His heart pounded crazily.
“Simone Brightman!” the voice blared. “We have his kill code! Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she called out, her voice nearly drowned out by the roar of the water.
“Take the gun from his hand,” the voice instructed. “Throw it into the water.”
Simone turned slowly and reached out to Zade, meeting his eyes.
“Say one word to him, and I shout out his kill code. Do you understand?” the voice demanded.
“Yes,” she said again.
“Speak only to me, and only when I tell you to. Take the gun.”
She pried it from his hand with some difficulty. It was pure chance that his grip on it had been relatively loose at the moment they’d stun coded him.
“Throw it,” the voice instructed. “Downstream.”
She obeyed. The gun sank into the foaming water.
Jordan and Phillip Holt emerged from behind Zade’s SUV.
It was useless to fight a stun code. Zade knew that from long experience. It only ratcheted up the muscle tension, turning extreme pain into agony. But he couldn’t help it.
His own fucking fault. Snagged again. Twice in a single half-hour. He couldn’t protect Simone. He was nothing but bait.
Holt’s eyes flicked over the two of them, cold and contemptuous. “Look at you two,” he said. “You thought you were so smart, but you both did exactly what I needed you to do. We now have the identities of two lost Midland rebels and their control codes.”
Simone made no reply.
“In fact, you seemed to be operating completely within your parameters,” Holt said. “Good work.”
Simone looked up into Zade’s eyes. He read her thought even as it formed in her mind. He felt the exact instant she realized that those bastards had no idea how much of her programming had been burned out by the stim sickness fever.
And no idea that she had a .38 revolver in her jacket pocket.
“I try,” Simone said. She gestured in his direction. “What happens to him?”
Holt’s smile faded. “He’ll be euthanized as soon as we debrief him. Which will be much easier now that we have his control codes.” He studied Simone’s face. “It’s painless,” he added. “He won’t feel a thing.”
“But why kill him at all? He’s an incredible asset.”
“Obsidian policy,” Jordan said impatiently. He held up a smartphone. “Let’s wrap this up.” He tapped the screen.
Those goddamn chimes sounded. Simone’s evil ringtone, hugely amplified.
Simone’s eyes rolled back and she wobbled on the slippery walkway like she was going to fall into the water. He couldn’t even move to help steady her.
Jordan’s lips curved. He liked controlling her. Sadistic prick.
Holt stepped onto the end of the bridge, close enough to peer into Simone’s face. She looked back at him as the chimes continued to sound, eyes frozen wide.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Holt said softly. “But you crossed a line, Simone. And we can’t help you unless we hurt you. So that you know who’s in charge. We could move you up to a higher level, with us. And you would never feel this terrible sensation again. Think about that.”
Simone’s eyes met his again. She was blinking rapidly, but he couldn’t tell if she was fighting residual programming or trying to signal him.
Baby, I know this isn’t your fault. You know it, too. This isn’t you.
Holt sidled past her on the narrow bridge, edging between them, and looked Zade over. Inches away from him. Asshole. He got off on exerting control.
“Monster! Scarab! Dagger!” Simone shrieked suddenly.
Released. Zade seized Holt in a crushing bear hug.
“Gargoyle! Magpie! Vortex!” Holt bellowed, struggling in his grip.
Zade froze once again with Holt still clamped against his chest. Stun-coded while in motion. Toppling with Holt howling in his grip, his face muffled against Zade’s chest. Falling.
Icy water closed over them.
* * * *
Simone pulled out the gun and shot Jordan. The kick of the weapon took her by surprise and she lost her balance, already unsteady on her feet.
Everything tipped sideways. She hit the water, and the powerful current swallowed her. She fought up, gulping for air, shocked by the intense cold.
She got sucked right back down again. So fast, so strong. She fought to the surface again and again. Tried to swim. Lungs aching for air.
Whack. A huge blow to her shoulder smacked her brutally back to full consciousness. It hurt like hell, but she wasn’t moving, and she could cough out water. Gulp in air, spitting and choking.
Coughing hurt. Breathing hurt.
She was pinned against a jagged rock atop others barely visible under foaming, leaping brown water.
Zade. Where was he?
She squinted through stinging eyes, gasping, tried to drag herself out of the water, but couldn’t. Her shoulder was dislocated. She didn’t have the strength to drag herself out of the huge, sucking pull.
Then she saw him. Trapped against a logjam. His face underwater.
She heaved herself free, ignoring the stabbing pain. Pulled herself around the rock and dove back into the swirl and shove of the torrent.
She bobbed, choking on mouthfuls of muddy water with every desperate breath. Knocked and slammed against rocks, logs, broken branches.
Another shock of pain, and she was no longer moving. She’d hit the logjam. She was deafened by the water’s terrifying roar.
Zade. There he was. Only a few yards away.
She pulled herself toward him, inch by inch. Blood welled out of the gashes on her hands and arms whenever she lifted them up to seize the branches and pull, pull, pull. The current pummeled her relentlessly from the side, but she kept on.
She finally reached him. Clutched his coat collar and dragged his face up above the surface of the water. He was deathly pale. Eyes closed.
“Zade!” she yelled over the water’s roar, but she couldn’t hear her own voice. He was so big, so heavy. Still clutching Holt. The other man was completely submerged.
She pulled Zade up until she could see Holt’s wide, sightless blue eyes. Done for.
She struggled to remember the release code. Her brain felt frozen along with the rest of her. Just three goddamn words. Zade seemed lifeless.
She forced her battered brain to work again. The images floated back.
She put her mouth to Zade’s ear. “Monster,” she gasped out. “Scarab. Dagger. Monster, scarab, dagger. Monster, scarab, dagger.”
He did not respond.
“Zade!” she shrieked into his ear. “Don’t leave me alone! Fucking Monster! Scarab! Dagger!”
Zade’s arms floated loose. Holt’s body drifted free and slowly sank out of sight. Two things: The release code had worked, or else …
No. Not possible.
She slapped Zade’s face. “Breathe! You can hear me, you cast-iron son of a bitch! I need you! It is time to fucking … breathe!”
Zade coughed suddenly. Choking and sputtering out water as his beautiful dark eyes opened a little. Squinting at her. Disoriented.
Simone. His lips formed her name. No sound.
“Can you move?” she shouted.
Zade reached out slowly and grabbed an overhanging branch. A big one. Then he seized her by the arm, pulling her behind him. His grip was strong.
Together they fought their way out of the pounding water. They crawled up onto the wet rocks and lay there, spent and helpless. Simone tried to get up, but she just kept falling down again. Zade was in even worse shape.
Then she saw it, flickering on the corner of her eye. Flashlights in the gloomy trees. Men, dark-clad, moving toward them.
Obsidian thugs. Had to be. They came closer.
Zade just lay there. No fight left in him. Same with her. She reached out. Took his icy hand. Tried to squeeze it. Her muscles barely responded.
She avoided the gaze of the man looming over them.
He unfolded a silvery thermal blanket and wrapped her in it. “Are you Simone?” he called, over the roar of the flood.
More men circled around. One bent down by Zade, covering him too.
She stared around at them. “What? Who are you guys?”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Asa sent us.”