Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) (11 page)

She hung
up, and I jumped, clasped onto the ledge of the roof, and
slipped.

SHIT!

I
flailed with one hand latched onto the ledge. I had to bite my
tongue to stop from screaming. Once I’d calmed, I stretched and
pulled myself up. I lay on the roof panting, more from undiluted
panic than from exertion. After I’d gotten myself together, I stood
and walked over to the skylight, then crouched and stared
inside.

The moon
was full and it lit up the night in silver. An icy wind blew around
the rooftop as I looked into the room below. It was large,
cylindrical like the window I stared through, but sparse. Its tiled
floors and stone walls set alarm bells off in my mind. It was too
empty. A single computer sat straight below where I stood, at the
back of the room, and across from it was the wide entranceway that
led in.

I drew a
deep breath, filtering through my thoughts. The test we were acting
out would hopefully prove Chris’s fears correct or not. It was
simple, wait for Anna to come into the room, and then enter the
room myself, my way a little more destructive, and a lot more
surprising.

Come on.

I
wrapped my arms around myself.

The wind
stilled, and my ears honed in on a short, sharp sound. A normal
person wouldn’t have heard it, but I was no longer normal. That
saved my life. I moved, using my unnatural speed to shift out of
the way of a bullet hurtling through the air. I was on my feet and
sprinting when another hit the ground where I had crouched. I raced
across the roof and hid behind the entrance out onto it.

Damn it! Not another one!

I didn’t
dare peek around the corner. I knew I wouldn’t see the sniper
anyway.

‘
Lucas!’ Anna’s voice was muffled by the ground at my feet, but
I heard her.

Shit!

We
didn’t need this. We didn’t need more complications to add to the
mix, but life wasn’t the way it used to be, I wasn’t the way I used
to be. I threw myself out into the line of fire and barrelled at
the skylight. I felt something whiz by my cheek, but it missed, and
just when I started to panic, I jumped at the window and crashed
into the room below.

I fell
with the glittering shards of glass and smacked into the ground.
The fall hadn’t particularly hurt, but the splinter of glass that
punctured my leg had. I gasped and struggled quickly to my
feet.

‘
Lucas!?’ Anna said with her eyes alight with worry.

‘
Sniper!’ I called back and limped over to where she hovered
over the computer in the room.

She
inserted the USB into the socket and booted the thing up. Brian’s
program took immediate control as it tore down the security and
searched for the files we needed. Anna touched the headset at her
ear and was connected straight to Brian.

‘
It’s in, but we’ve got trouble,’ she said. ‘How long will this
take?’

Brian’s
voice echoed from my own earpiece.

‘
Ten minutes max,’ he replied, his breathing heavy.

A black
wire dropped through the broken skylight, and a figure slid into
the room. She was like something straight from a model magazine.
Her dark brown hair was slightly highlighted with blonde flecks,
and her hazel eyes screamed murder. Her olive skin gleamed with a
light layer of sweat, and once she landed on her feet, she levelled
a gun at us.

‘
Get down, Anna!’ I shouted.

I kicked
into gear, raced round the computer and luckily avoided a hail of
gunfire. I continued round the circular room, faster than the
assassin could move her arm and fire. When I heard the click of her
empty gun, I changed course, bounded towards her and kicked it from
her hand.

She
reacted fast. Spinning, her leg kicked out and into the shard of
glass stuck in my leg. I groaned, but kept my feet on the ground
and threw my fist at her. The woman dodged, coming back with an
impressive slug to my cheek. But compared to my strength she had
nothing.

I
grabbed for the gun at my side and pulled it free, but before I
could pull the trigger, the woman had it in her hands and slammed
the butt of the gun against my head. I stumbled, and she swept my
legs from beneath me.

Damn it, she’s good.

I lay on
the floor as she jumped on top and smacked me again on the forehead
before her hand dove into her pocket and pulled out a
syringe.

This isn’t my father’s trap! It’s the government’s!

I caught
her arm before the needle pierced my neck. It was then Anna
screamed. Both the woman’s and my head snapped to where Anna
thrashed on the ground.

‘
Anna!’ I screamed.

I didn’t
even temper my strength. I brought the palm of my hand against the
woman’s chest, and she lifted off of me and flew through the air. I
sprung to my feet and ran to where Anna was. Her face dripped sweat
and her hands clamped over her stomach as she wriggled in pain.
Instantly, I thought of the worst.

Please God not the baby.

Before I
could even open my mouth, the assassin was on her feet. She had
retrieved her lethal weapon and reloaded. She rounded and aimed at
me. Instead of firing though, her gaze fixed to Anna, and mine
returned to her as well.

My eyes widened and I gasped as we both watched the
unthinkable. Anna’s stomach
grew
. Her slim belly hadn’t showed
any signs of her pregnancy yet, but it shifted and moved. Bulged
and stretched with every breath she took. Eventually, it stopped
and she gasped down air greedily.

‘
Holy fuck,’ I heard the woman mutter from where she
stood.

Anna’s
stomach was the size of a football.

‘
Lucas…’ Anna whimpered.

My
defensive instinct kicked in and my head shot up to the
wide-mouthed assassin, still holding her gun at us. I jumped, dove
over Anna, rolled and charged into her. She sprawled along the
ground and returned to her senses.

‘
Here!’ Anna said from behind me.

I turned
and caught her tranquilizer gun, twisted round and fired a shot
into the woman’s neck before she could load me with bullets. She
gasped and the gun fell to the floor as her free hand clasped the
feathered needle at her neck. The assassin’s eyes fluttered, before
she slumped into unconsciousness.

I
slapped at my ear and walked over to Anna.

‘
Chris, we’re coming out,’ I said.

‘
Any trouble?’ he replied, sounding bored.

‘
Yeah, another murderer sent by our friends in power,’ I
spat.

I heard
Chris start the car and I ended the call. Anna cradled her stomach
as she stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at it, tears glimmering in
her eyes. I asked her if she could walk, but she remained silent,
in shock. The computer sparked behind me, and I turned to see it
ladled with bullets.

No!

I pulled
the USB from it and hoped to God it had gotten something. I turned
back to Anna, my mind in agony. I picked her up, and raced past the
woman’s body for the entranceway. I sprinted as best I could, with
glass in my leg and Anna’s body in my arms, towards the elevator. I
got in, awkwardly punched the button, and waited as the doors
closed.

I felt
surreal, especially when the sickening elevator music kicked in and
I had to restrain from nervously jiggling to the tune.

‘
Lucas…’ Anna whispered.

‘
I know honey I know,’ I said, my voice high. ‘It’s alright,
I’m taking you home.’

The
doors opened at the ground level, and I raced past the reception
desk, a woman’s body slumped and asleep over the computer in front
of her. I shouldered the revolving doors and pushed out onto the
street, my panic rising.

‘
Here!’ Chris called from the car. He’d thankfully driven up to
meet us.

I opened
the backseat door and placed Anna carefully inside.

‘
What the fuck?’ Chris gasped.

‘
Just go, Chris,’ I ordered. ‘Go!’

He
pulled himself from staring and kicked the accelerator. We were no
longer abiding by the speed limit, but we weren’t stopped as we
raced home.

I turned
back to Anna and grabbed her hand.

‘
We’re almost home,’ I told her. ‘I’ll take care of you, don’t
worry.’

Her eyes
were terrified, and I tried to send some calm by squeezing her
hand.

What in the world is going on?

The Assassin

We
exploded through the doors to the War Room, and Brian and Paul
jumped out of their seats in shock. They froze at the sight of Anna
in my arms and I had to scream at them to bring them back. Chris
threw open the door to my bedroom, and I followed him through. I
lay Anna down on the bed, and we stepped back.

‘
I-I-what in the world?’ Chris muttered. The man who accounted
for everything was lost for words.

‘
I’m telling you,’ Anna repeated, ‘I feel fine now.’

She had
said as much when we’d entered the elevator, and then repeated
periodically to us on the ride up. How could it be alright? Half an
hour before she had been two months pregnant, and then, then she
looked ready to pop. I relayed as much to her.

‘
Honestly, call it mother’s intuition,’ Anna said. ‘Whatever
happened is past.’

‘
What
did
happen?’ Brian choked. ‘Did I slip into a coma?’

‘
I think we should go to a hospital,’ I said.

Anna
shook her head violently.

‘
No,’ she replied, ‘no hospitals, big bad idea, uber-mega bad
idea. We’ll be noticed for sure, we were lucky to have gotten away
with breaking and entering. I will not put my baby at risk. Listen,
Lucas, you can
listen
.’

I did as
she said. Mixed with her own heartbeat was another, much stronger
than before. My forehead crunched, and the pounding in my head grew
worse. For what had happened, Anna was remarkably calm, but the
rest of us jittered anxiously. Paul paced the room, while Chris
folded and unfolded his arms. Brian just stared at Anna’s
stomach.

‘
It won’t matter how hard you stare, Bri,’ Anna chuckled,
‘you’re not gonna see inside my stomach.’

Brian
averted his eyes and apologised.

‘
I think Lucas could be right,’ Brian said. ‘We should get you
to a hospital.’

‘
And I’ve already said no,’ Anna replied. ‘I feel fine. The
baby is fine.’

‘
How do you know that?’ I whispered and sat next to her. ‘This
isn’t normal.’

‘
The past three months as a whole haven’t been normal,’ she
replied. ‘Tell me something new.’

I sighed
exasperated. We couldn’t force her into a hospital, could
we?

‘
We could take you anyway,’ Chris said, reading my
mind.

‘
I could shoot you too, but we’re not going to do that now, are
we?’ Anna smiled. ‘Look, I’ll say it again, I feel
fine
.’

I just
stared, shocked. I wanted to charge at the windows and throw myself
into the twinkling lights of the city, but thankfully, I handled
the urge. Nobody moved, and we lingered there for what felt like
hours, gaping and making choked sounds with our throats. Anna said
she was alright, but I was terrified. I couldn’t handle the thought
of anything happening to her or the baby.

‘
Come on,’ Anna moaned, ‘don’t we have information to be
sifting through, an assassin to be looking out for?’

I pulled
the USB drive from my pocket and stared at it glumly. Brian
slouched over, almost toppling over a chair as he stared at Anna,
and held out his hand.

‘
I don’t know if it got anything,’ I admitted. ‘It hadn’t been
in long before the computer was shot to pieces.’

‘
I’ll see what I can do,’ Brian muttered, and backed out of the
room.

‘
I’m definitely going to start shooting people if they continue
to stare at me,’ Anna groaned.

Paul
jumped, and followed Brian’s tracks out of the room, but Chris and
I both refused to leave. Anna rolled her eyes and slumped back in
the bed. My head spun. I couldn’t help but think that anymore and
my head would explode. That’s when Brian screamed for help, and
fighting broke out in the main room. Chris turned and
bolted.

‘
Stay here,’ I told Anna as she struggled to sit up.

I left
the room listening to her protests and shut the door behind me.
Chris had his tranquilizer gun aimed over at the door to the
corridor, and Brian lay sprawled at his computer. Paul, however,
was in the arms of a brunette with highlights, her brown eyes full
of rage, a knife in her hand tightly held against his
throat.

‘
We have some unfinished business you and I,’ she spat over at
my face.

I pulled
the gun Anna had tossed me from my holster, and took
aim.