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by Maya Banks
They ducked inside the gaping hole in the wall and streamed one by one into the hallway. Dane and Capshaw took the others’ sixes by turning so they walked backward, guns up, scanning the hallway behind.
When they got to the doorway that opened into a large circular room with a glassed-in dome, they paused only long enough to ensure Ari’s position hadn’t changed and that they weren’t in for any unexpected surprises.
The mostly vacant area of the complex they were standing in was likely at one time either a nurses’ station or a reception area with each of the corridors branching off housing different wings of the so-called hospital. Obviously the more serious threats to society were housed in the filthy, vermin-infested barred cells, and Beau was sickened that anyone would be treated with so little humanity. Even if the criminals were the worst sort of human beings.
Here they were reduced to the furthest thing from humanity one could get. Most animal shelters and, hell, modern prisons, for that matter, offered better accommodations.
But then the bastards who’d put their hands on Ari, who’d stuffed her parents into a tiny cell with deplorable conditions, deserved far worse, so Beau would reserve his judgment in the future before offering blanket sympathy to anyone.
“We got a problem,” Zack said grimly. He turned halfway so he stared at the hallway to the far lower right. “Got movement in the northern wing. Headed this way.”
Dane tensed, immediately shifted so his hands held a weapon in each. Then he nodded at Cap and Isaac.
To Beau and Zack he said, “Go and retrieve Ari. We’ll provide cover here and make sure they don’t get past us. Let us know when you’re coming in, though, so neither of you gets your balls shot off.”
“Thanks,” Zack said dryly. “I’d rather not part ways with my dick.”
Restless, Beau started down the hallway. Toward Ari. Toward his life, leaving Zack to catch up. Or not. He wasn’t waiting another goddamn minute. He trusted Dane and the others to do their job and keep the men creeping toward them at bay long enough for them to tag Ari and get her the hell out.
No sooner had they taken two steps down the corridor than the floors buckled and rolled like ocean waves beneath their feet. The walls shook, knocking already askew paintings down to clatter on the tile below. The ceiling and rafters creaked and groaned in protest, swaying until it felt as though the entire building was in motion. The sound was ominous, the signal of impending collapse.
Relying on Zack’s techno recon, Beau ran toward the end. Toward the one closed door that Ari was behind, paying no heed to the barren rooms that lined either side of the hallway. Zack was hot on his heels, guns in both hands, arms up, his piercing gaze missing nothing. Beau knew he was being reckless, but he counted on his partner to cover his stupid ass. Zack had never failed him yet in their rather short acquaintance.
Beau slowed only enough to let Zack catch up so they could kick the door in. But before they made any motion to do so, the door splintered apart, breaking free from its hinges and sailing down the hallway in pieces.
Both men ducked, barely in time to prevent their heads from being taken off.
“Down!” Zack yelled, shoving at Beau as he started to get to his feet once more.
A man went flying down the hallway after the door, crashing into the far wall. He punched a hole straight through the Sheetrock, forming a cavernous opening.
“Holy shit,” Beau said, his face a mask of shock. “She’s kicking some serious ass!”
“Uh, yeah. What was your first clue? Three dozen heat signatures suddenly vanishing? Oh wait, make that one more in the ‘ticked off the list’ column. Ari thirty-eight. Bad guys ten. Or maybe it was the huge-ass hole in the roof with an inferno blazing and erupting like a fucking volcano. Or perhaps—”
“I get it,” Beau muttered. “Smart-ass.”
Zack snickered but cautiously rose, humor disappearing from his features when he stared inside the now-open doorway.
“Beau,” Zack murmured. “You need to get in there. Now.”
THIRTY-SIX
EVEN Goon A’s smirk was now gone. Where before he’d been smugly assured that Ari didn’t have the guts to actually kill someone, uncertainty now marked his features and fear was stark in her eyes.
Good.
Because she meant goddamn business. Gone was any squeamishness whatsoever over causing the deaths of the assholes who’d killed her parents and dragged their bodies off like discarded trash.
Fury sizzled and boiled, hissing through her veins until a warm throb reverberated through her entire body.
“What did you do with them?” she demanded, her tone so frigid that she could discern an actual temperature change in the room.
A puzzled look furrowed his brow and then pain rapidly took its place when she applied pressure to his throat, momentarily cutting off his airway. He was solidly plastered to the ceiling, incapable of moving. He was completely paralyzed and capable of doing her no harm whatsoever.
“Tell me what you did with them or I swear to God, you’ll die an agonizing, long death and you’ll beg me to kill you and end it all,” she said in a dangerously soft voice.
She let off the pressure on his throat, but twisted his testicles painfully until his face was a mask of pain.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he ground out, his jaw clenched and bulging as he breathed through the agony she was inflicting on him. “You saw what I saw. Whatever the hell kind of voodoo you performed rendered bullets ineffective.”
The mental strain she was under was fast sapping her strength and taking its toll. Blood seeped in a continuous stream from her nose and she could feel the warm slide of liquid down the sides of her neck.
She wiped her nose with the back of her arm, smearing some of the blood over her lips. It was a metallic, sickening taste in her mouth. The floor beneath her feet reacted to her psychic energy, vibrating and buckling, tiny cracks forming and then growing larger.
An ominous creaking sound filled the room as if the building were expressing its weariness and weakness. Lightbulbs popped, shattering and sending shards of glass in all directions. A few hit her, inflicting cuts, but she ignored everything, never wavering in her focus on the man above her.
The entire area was responding to the restless, wild energy flowing through her and around her. Her skin tingled as if the air was electrically charged and a continuous current flowed in a cycle.
She felt . . . otherworldly. Like someone in a fantasy movie. Magic or witchcraft. Whichever of the two fit. In this moment, she felt a rush of power so strong that she nearly fell to her knees. It filled her, consumed her, nearly overwhelming in its intensity.
Never had she felt so strong, capable of any feat no matter how impossible. Her spine stiffened and she straightened, resolve settling over her and instilling the will to do what she must.
Pain speared through her head, her body, making her feel as if her bones were shattering. Blood poured from her orifices and she could only imagine how horrifying she must look. She hoped to hell she scared the holy shit out of the little bastard pinned by the awesome force of her powers.
Some of what she was feeling had to be readily visible, because the goon’s face went white as a sheet and he stared at her, realization—and doom—flashing in his eyes.
“Yeah, you little fucker,” she whispered in an eerie voice. “Resign yourself to your fate and the embarrassment over being beat by a ‘little bitch,’ as you so succinctly put it. Well, this bitch is going to send you straight to hell.”
“Ari!”
She flinched at the loud outburst and took an instinctive step back before she realized who it was calling her name. She turned, relief crushing down on her, when she saw Beau inside the doorway, his eyes bright with terror. Zack rushed in to stand beside him and immediately put the man on the ceiling in his gun sights.
“He’s mine,” Ari said, her voice like a whip cracking through the room.
“Ar
i, honey,” Beau said in a soothing tone. “We need to get you out of here before the entire place goes up in flames or comes down on our heads.”
Tears burned her eyelids and she wasn’t sure if it was blood or tears that now streamed from her eyes. Maybe both.
“He killed them,” she said hoarsely. “He killed my parents! He ordered their executions while I stood here. And oh God, I had a barrier around them, but I let my focus waver and the shield slipped. I saw their blood!”
Beau’s eyes widened. He and Zack exchanged quick glances and Beau cursed softly under his breath.
“Ari, they aren’t dead.”
“I saw!” she shouted. “Don’t try to appease me. Don’t lie to me to get me to come with you. I won’t go until every last one of these assholes is dead.”
“Ari, they are not dead,” Zack said, his voice firm, not as soothing as Beau’s. Utter seriousness was etched in his features as he stared at her. “We got them out of the cell. The blood you saw was from the two guards your father killed. Beau shot the third one when he went after your mother. They’re fine. I swear to you. They’re safe and waiting for you. They’re worried sick about you. Afraid to their bones that something has happened to you. So let it go so we can take you to your parents. So you can see for yourself we aren’t lying to you.”
Ari blinked, her mouth drooping open, some of the horrifying thoughts of anger and violence diminishing as she gauged Zack’s sincerity.
“They’re alive?” she whispered.
Beau stepped closer, his movement tentative as though he were afraid to touch her. Afraid she’d shatter.
“Yes, honey, they’re alive,” Beau said quietly. “You protected them. Your barrier prevented the bullets from hitting them. And when it did fall, your father took out two of the men in quite an impressive manner. They’re safe, and waiting for you, and as Zack said, they’re out of their minds with worry. Because you sacrificed yourself for them. Don’t do something now that will cause them to grieve the rest of their lives and feel guilt over the fact that you sacrificed your life for them. Don’t make me grieve because I lost you.”
He slid his hand up the length of her arm, over her shoulder and then around her nape, gently pulling her toward his body.
“Please, Ari. Come with me,” he softly begged. “The building is destroyed. It won’t stand much longer. What few you men you didn’t take out, Dane, Capshaw and Isaac are taking care of now. It’s over. You kicked their asses, and you made sure that no one will ever use this place for evil again.”
She allowed herself only a brief, sweet moment in Beau’s arm, in his strong, protective embrace, before reluctantly pulling herself away. Then she slanted a glance in the goon’s direction.
“There’s still one more,” she said coldly. “And I have a personal score to settle with him anyway. He’s the asshole who tried to drug me the morning after my parents disappeared.”
Beau’s eyes grew cold as he shifted his stare toward the man pinned helplessly on the ceiling.
Then another quake rolled through the entire complex, rattling chairs, furniture and the very foundation. Distant crashes sounded, drawing closer and closer. Indeed, Beau was right. The building was coming apart at the seams, guided by her overwhelming rage and psychic energy.
“Leave him,” Beau said, slipping his fingers through hers. “Let him die when the building comes down on him. He doesn’t deserve a quick and merciful death.”
Still, Ari hesitated because the taste for revenge was still strong in her mouth.
A deafening crash much closer this time and then a shout carried through the accumulating rubble. Beau’s name.
“Let’s roll,” Zack barked out. “Do you want us all to die so you can have your revenge, Ari?”
Beau snarled at him and Ari could see the rebuke poised to fly. She squeezed Beau’s hand. “He’s right, Beau. I’m not thinking clearly. Forgive me. The last thing I want is for anyone to die because of my hatred and thirst for vengeance.”
Beau wrapped a steadying arm around her and guided her toward the doorway. Or what was left of it. As the rush of adrenaline began to wear off, her knees started shaking. Her entire body shook. Her legs buckled and Beau had to haul her up against his side to keep her from sagging to the floor.
“I’m all right,” she said through gritted teeth. “I can make it. You need both your hands.”
“You are not all right,” Beau bit back. “You don’t see how bad you look, Ari. You scared the ever-loving shit out of me when I saw you back there. God. I thought I was too late. I can’t believe you’re still standing after bleeding so damn much. The very first thing we’re doing when we get the hell out of this godforsaken place is take you to a hospital.”
They hurried down the hall amid shouts from Dane to Beau to hurry his ass up. Ari knew she was slowing them down, but Beau refused to let go of her.
They were within sight of Dane and the two men flanking them when the walls on either side of them exploded outward, pelting them with debris and Sheetrock. An ominous cracking sound erupted and then Ari found herself flying backward, Beau cradling her to absorb her fall.
The entire ceiling and second floor had caved in, blocking their pathway to where the others waited.
“Zack?” Beau yelled, worry in his voice.
“I’m here. I’m okay.”
Then Beau reached up to frame Ari’s face in his hands. She was atop him, Beau having broken her fall. His worried gaze raked over her. “Are you all right? Do you hurt anywhere?”
She grimaced. “I hurt everywhere but it has nothing to do with this particular incident. I’m fine, Beau.”
“We’re going to have to get out another way,” Zack said grimly.
“What?” Ari asked incredulously. “I can get through that. I’ve certainly done a lot more difficult things.”
“No,” both men said in unison.
She shook her head, sure she was misunderstanding something.
“You can’t take much more, Ari. Any fool can see that. You’re done. Finished. If you incur another bleed I can’t even imagine what will happen and if it’s all the same to you I’d rather not have you a vegetable for the rest of you life.”
“Oh for God’s sake,” she muttered. “And how do you propose we get out this ‘other’ way if you won’t let me use my powers.”
“Because we’ll blow a hole in one of the outer walls so it doesn’t bring the interior structure down on our heads,” Beau said patiently.
She sighed. “Whatever. Let’s get on with it. I want to see my parents.”
They picked themselves up from the floor and Zack led the way, Ari positioned between the two men. She should be in front. It made no sense for men who were vulnerable to bullets to be on the front line instead of a woman who wasn’t vulnerable to attack to lead. But she didn’t even waste her breath arguing because one, they’d never agree and she’d waste precious time beating her head against a brick wall. And two, she just wanted it over and done with so she could see for herself that her parents were okay.
At least Beau was letting her walk under her own steam this time, and she was determined not to hinder their progress in any way, so she powered past the agonizing pain and extreme exhaustion and stayed right on Zack’s heels the entire way.
They veered left into the very last room before the one where the goon was playing Spider-Man and Zack immediately went to the far wall and began adhering plastic explosives at various spots.
“Won’t this just blow a hole into the corridor of prison cells?” Beau asked with a frown.
Zack shook his head, never looking up from his task. “The last three rooms in this hallway extend farther than the outbuilding that houses the cells. When we bust a hole in this wall, we’ll be on the outside.”
“Works for me. Hurry,” Beau urged.
“Get down and take cover,” Zack directed.
Beau ducked behind an island cabinet that looked like solid steel construction, dragging Ar
i with him. Beau got down on his haunches, but Ari was much shorter, so she simply half squatted, just to the left side of Beau so her hand held his shoulder to steady herself.
An eerie prickling sensation caused every hair on her body to bristle and stand on end. A chill chased down her spine and around to her gut, tightening her stomach until it was a clenched ball.
Just as earlier, when she’d sensed an immediate threat to her and had dropped and lashed out, instinctively defending herself from an unseen attacker, she knew that danger was imminent.
She turned her head over her shoulder, because it was the only place there could be danger. The only place not readily in her sight line. She froze, the entire world moving in slow motion. Like she was in some bizarre dream where she watched but was helpless to do anything else.
The goon she’d left trapped on the ceiling to die when the building fell was standing in the doorway, gun in hand, pointing it directly at . . . Beau.
There was no spontaneous, instinctual self-preservation barrier that immediately formed without her having to build it in her mind because she wasn’t the target. And she knew she didn’t have time to erect one around Beau because she was simply too weak, too unfocused to form it in time.
A shot sounded, and she did the only thing she could do. The only thing she had time to do. She stepped in front of Beau, her back turned to the gunman. She grabbed Beau’s head, yanking it protectively to the top of her thighs, covering him as best she could, and she closed her eyes.
THIRTY-SEVEN
BEAU’S head was suddenly yanked back and he let out a startled exclamation just as a gunshot sounded. It was all simultaneous and happened so quickly that he couldn’t make sense of what had just occurred.
Ari had his head and neck in a death grip and held him rigidly against her legs. But then he felt her stiffen, and a harsh cry of pain pierced his heart, freezing him in abject fear.
Oh God. Gunfire. Ari stepping behind him. Ari cradling his head protectively in her arms. Ari crying out in pain. No. Oh God, no! It all added up to one thing and one thing only. She’d put herself between him and whoever fired the shot.