Cheating Time (49 page)

The entire escape was frightening, but when
Barone's voice began booming around the forest, I was more scared
than I'd ever been, and that included the day I'd been attacked by
a bed of copperheads and almost died. For me, Barone was the most
frightening person, thing, or creature I'd ever known because I now
knew he'd kill anyone or anything that threatened him or tried to
sabotage his plans.

I wasn't worried about myself. I was
terrified for Dad and Jayden. I was terrified for anyone on my
immunity list because those would be the people he went after
first.

Dammit! Why did I make
that list? Dammit!

"Carlie, you know what I'm capable of. If
you stop this nonsense right now… NOW… I'll forgive all that has
happened here tonight. If you don't, there will be no turning back.
I'll snap the neck of every person you love and make you watch. Do
you want their blood on your hands?"

His tone wasn't nearly as calm and cool as
it had been when he killed Indigo's sister. There was an anxiety
behind it that made me think he was sure we were actually getting
away.

"Ignore him, Carles," Jayden whisper-shouted
from in front of me.

My head told me Jayden was right and I
needed to ignore Barone. My heart reminded me I was in a no-win
situation. He'd never let either Jayden or Dad live after today.
Going back would not bring with it the absolution Barone
proclaimed.

We kept running. At least, we did until
there was a loud pop from behind us that told me a shot had been
fired. When I turned, I saw that Dad had been spun around by it and
was stumbling, trying to keep his feet firmly planted and preparing
to fight whoever was threatening us.

Isaiah! Dammit to hell!
Why him?

"Go back to Barone and stay out of this,
son! You don't want to do this," Dad coaxed Isaiah, who was
standing with a gun leveled on all of us.

"Shut up! Do as I say. I'm taking you back
to camp. Barone told me he realized he'd made a mistake when he
appointed St. Romaine his Lead. He promised if I brought you all
back, he'd make it up to me," Isaiah yelled. "Now clamp your hands
behind your head and walk your sorry asses toward the camp."

With nothing more than the light of the moon
illuminating our way, I stared toward Dad. Not only was he pale,
but he was in intense pain. The kind that had him gritting his
teeth and holding his arm awkwardly against his chest.

As if reason were all that was needed when
dealing with Isaiah, I said, "You just shot him, Isaiah. He can't
put his arm behind his head."

"I don't give a shit what you say. I want
you all to put your hands on the back of your head. If you don't do
that, you'll have a bullet hole in you within the next few seconds.
There's only one of you I can't kill—Carlie. Still, I could shoot
you," Isaiah said with a smirk so sickening I wanted to wipe it off
his face almost as bad as I wanted to hurt Barone earlier in the
night.

I cleared my throat and admitted the last
thing I wanted to admit to the one person as cruel as Barone. "I've
got the cub in my hand, Isaiah. I can only put one hand behind my
head too."

"I'll take him," Isaiah said smoothly.
"Barone said I'd get a special gift if I brought the two of you
back alive."

So he can kill Indigo
in front of me also.
I'd leave him in the forest to fend
for himself and pray an animal with strong motherly instincts took
care of him before I'd let this asshole have him.

While I stood contemplating what I needed to
do, another loud pop rang through the forest. With it, Isaiah fell
to the ground and grabbed his leg.

"What the hell?" he groaned while rolling
around and beating the forest floor with his fists.

From the side, I heard Sean. "Keep going.
I'll follow behind. I'm going to make sure anyone who gets lucky
enough to find this trail is taken care of.
Go
!"

Without hesitating, Jayden grabbed Indigo
from me and took off up the hill. Dad followed behind. There was no
way to pretend he wasn't traveling at a slower rate than earlier.
Without giving it away, Jayden accommodated for Dad's injuries and
their impact on our escape.

It seemed like it took hours, but it could
have only been minutes before we reached a clearing. To my
amazement and in the middle of the field was an autopilot drone big
enough to hold a dozen people.

Without a word between us, Jayden put Indigo
in my palm and ushered Dad and me to the side door before lifting
us into the aircraft. With more anxiety than I'd ever seen rolling
off the Surrogate, he stood next to the drone, waiting for Sean.
Mimicking Jayden and the way he studied the forest, I stood holding
the bar next to the door with one hand and Indigo with the other,
waiting.

When Sean burst from the covering of the
trees, at the same time, Jayden and I breathed a sigh of relief.
His breakneck speed alerted us to the fact that he was being
chased, that he was running for his life. Unlike Dad and his
ability to remain standing, Sean went facedown with his arms spread
wide when a loud pop sounded over the quiet roar of the drone,
signaling to us the fact that he'd been shot in the back.

When Jayden ran toward his brother, I tried
to jump from the MediChopper, wanting nothing more than to follow
him, but several sets of hands grabbed onto me.

"LET GO OF ME!" I yelled, glaring around and
looking to see who dared hold me back.

Dad had one arm and Thorne had the
other.

"LET GO OF ME!" I yelled, again.

Neither man complied, and had it not been
two people I admired and respected, I'd have at least tried kicking
them.

I knew they'd never let go, so I turned back
to where Sean had fallen and watched as Jayden grabbed his brother
and dragged him toward the drone, twisting and turning as
additional shots were fired their way. Based on the the yelps
following the pops as they grew closer, I thought at least two
shots hit their marks, one for Jayden and another for Sean.

When they were close, Thorne jumped from the
aircraft and helped Jayden throw Sean in the aircraft like he was a
sack of potatoes. He looked as if he might do the same for Jayden…
until Jayden waved off his help and hoisted himself in. Thorne did
the same, only by then the drone had taken flight and he was left
hanging in midair and trying to fight the gravity pulling him back
down toward the clearing.

Rorie began screaming, "THORNE! THORNE!
PLEASE HELP HIM!"

Little did she know we were all grappling
around, trying our best to grab a hand, a foot, a piece of
clothing. I turned toward her, held out Indigo, and said, "Hold
him!"

She immediately complied.

I lay on my belly next to Jayden. He held on
tight to one forearm and pulled while I grabbed onto Thorne's hand.
Suddenly, I had a surge of energy unlike anything I'd ever
experienced in my life. At the same time it shot through me, I
grabbed Thorne tighter and almost singlehandedly pulled him into
the cabin of the aircraft with us.

As soon as he was in, Jayden hit a button
that shut the door, instantly silencing the rush of wind that had
just been threatening to burst my eardrums. In the abrupt quietness
of the compartment, we all looked around and took inventory of
who'd made it and what condition they were in.

The unexpected and unprecedented burst of
strength and energy had shorted me out. My hands shook as I
squatted and then sat. I had to do something before I dropped to my
knees. Ignoring my weakness, I stared around the cabin.

Against the wall and cuddling Indigo was
Rorie. Next to her, licking Indigo, was Vixen. Guarding the mother
and her baby was Jabdalja, Bagheera, and Sasha. On the floor and
sprawled out in a way that instantly made me wonder if he was going
to live was Sean. He was still recovering from histoplasmosis, and
now he had two gunshot wounds to survive. Simon was lying across
his brother's chest, crying and begging him to be okay.

I felt sorry for him but knew there would be
nothing I could do to console him. Not until we were somewhere Sean
could get the treatment he needed.

Next to Sean's feet sat a dazed and confused
Thorne. He'd been born a scientist. Unlike me, he'd not been
trained to fight. The fact that he'd quite nearly plunged to his
death was weighing heavily on him and his nerves, and he was
staring at me like I'd just done something miraculous. Determined
to keep my deed secret, I looked away from Thorne and saw that on
each side of me sat Dad and Jayden. Both had been shot, but the
best I could tell, neither wound was fatal.

So far, we've all made
it.

The question really became,
How much longer?

Barone had countless resources at his
disposal. If he couldn't get us, he'd go after Gran and Tawney.

My head jerked toward Dad, who seemed to be
thinking what I was thinking.

"Where are they? Can we get to them?" I
asked frantically.

His voice was monotone when he said, "Your
mom is safe with Mac and Elle."

"Gran says we can't trust them… that they
work for Barone!" I cried.

Dad nodded. "They did until he killed their
baby because she was a genetic mutant. Ever since then, they've
been double spies, making Barone think they were working for him
while helping as many people as possible escape Barone's
genocide."

"What about Gran and Tawney?"

Again, Dad nodded. Then with a lot of
difficulty, he climbed to his feet and stumbled over to the drone's
computer. He made sure there were no images for us to see as he
typed nonstop, much like Jayden had when he was trying to reach
Gran.

Finally, he clicked a button and we saw Gran
and Tawney with their hands behind their head as if they'd just
been captured.

Petrified for them, Jayden, Thorne, and I
all stood and gathered around the holographic image, studying
everything for future reference and listening to every word
uttered.

"She's dying and I'm an old man. What would
Barone want with us?" Gran complained.

"Sir, you just need to come with us," the
Surrogate with the gun to Gran's back said.

I had no idea who he was or if I'd ever seen
him because his back was to us. What I did know was there was
something familiar about his build, his voice, and his mannerisms.
Everything about him tugged at my memories.

"That's just not possible," Gran
responded.

Just do what you have
to do, Gran!
I willed, knowing alive would be better
than dead for both of them.

The Surrogate Soldier who'd instantly become
my mortal enemy when I saw him holding a gun on my grandfather
jabbed the barrel into Gran's back and said, "We'll see about that,
old man."

Before they could walk out of the room, Gran
reached over and touched a button that until that moment had been
invisible to us. When he did, the room was filled with smoke and
all we heard were bodies dropping to the ground.

"What just happened? Did he commit suicide?"
I asked frantically.

Scowling, Dad stared at the image before us
with the same questions bouncing through his mind. When the smoke
finally cleared, we were able to see Gran was the only one still
standing.

At the same time, Dad and I breathed, "Thank
God!"

"Sam, I assume you have someone coming for
us," Gran grumped in a way that told me he'd known all along we
were spying.

Dad laughed. "Yes, Peter, I have a team of
people on the way. They'll pick you up by drone and bring you to
the safe house were Selma is. I'm heading there now with Carlie and
Jayden."

Gran smiled. "Well, thank the heavens we'll
all be back together. We're stronger that way. How long will I have
to wait?"

"Be patient, Peter. I have the best of the
best heading up the team. They know how important a quick
extraction is. We're going to stay with you until they arrive.
While we're waiting, tell us what you did," Dad said.

Gran smiled, and I knew he'd done something
he was especially proud of. "I used the air-conditioning vents to
blow in a poison that will knock anyone and everyone out for at
least a day."

"Everyone but you, Gran," Jayden said
proudly.

"There you are, Surrogate. It didn't faze me
because I vaccinated myself against it. I wanted to do the same for
Tawney, but I was worried about how the vaccination would react in
her system now that she's sick. It was a no-win situation. Now that
she's out, I'll wait to reverse the drug until we make it to the
safe house. The stress of waking her now while we're not totally
safe would put too much on her," Gran said as if convincing himself
that decision was the best one.