“A winter coat,” she said, pleased.
The coat was made of modern materials, lightweight but warm. It’d make the cold journey ahead a little less painful for her. She folded it into her pack.
We went to the fenced-in yard behind the building. At the far end, there was a squat building that Claire confirmed was the utility shed. I stayed alert as we walked to the door. Two voices—one male, one female—came from inside. The door was open a crack.
I pressed Claire against the wall beside me, shielding her with my body.
“Stay quiet,” I whispered to her. “Keep watch. I’ll take them out.”
She nodded.
A quick peek around the corner told me that the space was barely big enough for the two masked cultists; the room was taken up by shelves and machinery. Both faced away from the door, looking at a screen. The man was dark-haired and had a slim build. The woman’s only distinct feature was her light golden hair, cropped short and sticking out at weird angles, like a bottle brush. They were arguing. Good. They were distracted.
Next to them were dozens of small boxes that said Portable Universal Nano Controller, 100ct. Holy shit. Claire’s hunch had paid off, big time.
There was no time to celebrate, so Claire crept to the other side of the doorway to keep watch. I drew my hunting knife and slowly pushed on the door.Easy does it.I moved it maybe two inches before it creaked. Not loudly, but enough that both cultists turned instinctively.They weren’t on alert yet, but they would be. I needed the element of surprise.
I threw myself into the door, slamming it into the woman as she turned. She let out a small scream of surprise before being knocked to the floor. Another step in and I slashed the man’s throat. Blood sprayed across my chest. I was already turning on the woman as he collapsed to the ground gurgling. I found her clawing toward the door. Her bushy hair let me yank her head up, exposing the throat.
Her golden hair caught the light for just a second. Long enough.
“John!” Claire suddenly cried out. “Stop!”
I froze.
“What?” I asked, confused.
In an instant, Claire was in the tiny room. Her eyes were glued on the woman I had in a hold.
“It’s Holly,” she managed to get out. “My sister.”
“Claire?” the blonde woman croaked.
Well, shit.
I relaxed my grip but didn’t let her go. We couldn’t afford to. I squeezed her carotid artery until she went limp, then kept her in a tight hold.
“We can’t let her go,” I said firmly. Claire opened her mouth to argue but I interrupted. “She’s one of them, and she’ll rat us out. Someone may have already heard her scream.”
“You can’t kill her in front of me,” Claire replied, choking on a sob.
Damn.I didn’t want to scar her for life. Didn’t solve the problem of what the fuck we were supposed to do, though.
There were suddenly voices in the distance, coming closer.
“We have to move,” I said. “You know this place. Find somewhere to hide, and we’ll bring her with us. Grab the PNCs and let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Chapter 7
John
To my relief, Claire nodded like she knew where to go. She grabbed four boxes of PNCs while I gathered Holly’s sidearm, which seemed to be her only weapon. Claire took off in the direction of the back door we came from. I followed, dragging Holly along with me. She was semi-conscious, mumbling nonsense, but still stunned for now.
Claire led us through the winding hallways of the school, down a flight of stairs, and into a dank basement. We headed to a heavy-looking metal door that blended in with the walls. A keypad was concealed in the wall next to it. Claire punched in a number code, and with a click, several deadbolts disengaged. She threw her weight against the door, pushing it open with effort, and gestured for me to follow.
I dragged Holly ahead of me before tossing her to the floor and drawing my pistol. Claire let the door close behind us, and the deadbolts clicked again. A brief look around told me we were inside some kind of bunker. It was small, with cement walls and floors, and a small passage that led to another room. There were shelves of boxes liningthe walls, and a small desk with a computer terminal in the corner. It seemed as safe as it could be in the circumstances. I let out a breath, relieved, but it didn’t last long, because in my life, nothing could ever just go smoothly.
There was the click of a gun being cocked, and I was suddenly on the business end of a pistol. A beautiful woman with smooth, coppery skin and sleek black hair stood in the doorway to the other room. Her deep brown eyes looked wild, and her jaw was hard with tension. But somehow, her beauty was strange. She didn’t have a mark anywhere on her. Too perfect. Almost uncanny.
