Don't Look Now (14 page)

“Wasn’t there a loading bay?” Zeke asked.

“Yes!” Noa said, suddenly flashing on it. “It was near the control room, though, so we decided not to use it.”

“Well, I don’t think we have a choice now.”

Noa took in their ragged little group. There were at least five armed guards clustered around the building. If the club kids had taken off, the van would stick out like a sore thumb. They’d left Crystal behind to man the wheel—hopefully she’d been smart enough to move it. If they lost that van . . .

First things first
, Noa thought. She needed to know where the rest of her team was. She unclipped the radio from her belt. “Teo? Daisy? Crystal? Does anyone read?”

A pause, then Crystal said in a panicked voice, “What the hell happened? The whole building’s burning!”

“Crystal, where are you?” Noa said.

A longer pause, then Crystal sounding abashed as she said, “I’m about a mile away. When all the cars took off, I followed them. I wasn’t sure—”

“That’s good,” Noa said, relieved. “You did the right thing. Have you seen the taco truck?”

“Not yet. It was still there when I left.”

Noa frowned. Teo and Daisy were supposed to pull up stakes immediately if anything went wrong, and to leave within five minutes of the building breach even if it hadn’t. So what the hell were they doing out there? And why hadn’t they answered when she radioed?

She hesitated for a second, frozen by indecision. Zeke met her eyes, and she could tell he was thinking the same thing. “Someone set that fire,” he said in a low voice.

“It was us.”

“What?” Noa spun.

The tall girl had spoken. Her hospital gown was too long; it draped past her knees. “I set fire to an oxygen tank. I figured it would create enough of a distraction for us to escape. But then the doors all locked again, and we couldn’t get out. Until he showed up,” she finished, jerking her head toward Zeke.

Noa felt a flare of admiration. It probably wouldn’t have occurred to her to do something like that. The fact that the guards had nothing to do with the fire was a relief, too. Maybe they had a shot at getting out of here after all. “Crystal, I want you to drive back.”

“What?” Crystal’s voice crackled. “But—”

“Drive fast and go straight to the south side of the building.”

“Are you sure? Because—”

“Just do it! We’ll be there soon.” Noa clicked off, ignoring the stream of protests still issuing from the handheld. She had to get them through this maze of corridors to the control room, then past that and out through a loading bay. All with an unknown number of guards between them and the exit.

Noa tightened her grip on the Taser and pepper spray. “All right,” she said, trying to inject more certainty into her voice than she felt. “I’ll lead, the rest of you stay close.”

They didn’t look happy about it, but no one protested. Noa tugged her bandanna up and dove back into the wall of smoke.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God . . .”

Daisy wouldn’t stop wailing. She was doing it quietly, but it was only a matter of time before the guards came back. Teo could hear gravel flying as cars skidded out of the parking lot. Soon, they’d be the only ones left.

They were sitting ducks.

“Daisy, c’mon!” he said, shaking her by the elbows. She was huddled on the floor of the truck behind the counter, arms wrapped around her knees as she rocked back and forth.

He checked his watch again. It had been eight minutes since the music started inside the building, so they should have left three minutes ago. But Daisy was supposed to drive the van. He’d do it instead, but he’d never learned how. As a foster kid, he hadn’t exactly had a car and driver’s ed at his disposal.

Daisy was still unresponsive, though, and any minute now those guards would be coming back. He had to do something.

Teo got stiffly to his feet and awkwardly climbed through the gap into the driver’s seat. Keys dangled from the ignition, which was a good sign. But the stick shift was not. He had a basic grasp of how to drive an automatic, but a standard? He didn’t know the first thing about that.

“Daisy?” he called pleadingly. “I really need you up here!”

No response, except for her continued murmuring.

Teo peered through the windshield. The parking lot was smoky, and nearly empty; the stream of kids from inside the building had slowed to a trickle. The last few were rushing toward the remaining vehicles looking frantic and terrified. The atmosphere of gaiety had vanished, and a pall as heavy as the smoke hung over the scene. No sign of the guards—maybe they’d gone back inside the building?

A strange crackling sound from the passenger seat. He frowned, perplexed, then suddenly realized:
the radio!
He picked it up and pressed the button on the side. “Um, hello?”

A faint voice emitted from the speaker. Teo fumbled with the unit, finally locating the volume knob and dialing it all the way up. This time, when Noa spoke, her words were clear. “Where the hell are you guys? We need you, now!”

CHAPTER
TEN

N
oa cursed. Teo had finally answered the radio, but it didn’t sound like any help would be coming from that direction. He didn’t know how to drive, and apparently Daisy had gone catatonic. Crystal had driven nearly to the highway before pulling off the road to await further orders.
Not much of an army
, Noa couldn’t help thinking. Sure, they weren’t trained soldiers, but she hadn’t expected a total meltdown at the first sign of trouble. It was her own fault—she should have had a better backup plan.

Her eyes flitted across the faces staring expectantly at her: seven teens, one of whom was unconscious. Not exactly an inconspicuous group. They didn’t have a prayer of slipping out among the club kids, if there were even any left outside.

Which meant somehow getting past the guards who remained in the building. Her stomach knotted with tension and fear. The other raids they’d pulled off had all gone smoothly; they’d overwhelmed the few guards quickly, and no one had gotten hurt. Now she had to face the possibility that they might not all make it out of here. Worse yet, Project Persephone might catch her again. She could end the night drugged and dumped back on a table.

At that thought she drew a deep breath, resolve hardening in her chest. No way she was going to let that happen.

“Well? We going or what?” Remo demanded.

She could tell by the strain on his face that carrying the girl, even though she was tiny, was taking a toll. The rest of the teens wore expressions raging from concern to terror. Only Zeke gazed at her calmly, as if he had utter faith in her ability to steer them out of this mess.

“I’ll lead,” Noa said. “Zeke, you take the rear. The rest of you stay together. Remo, I need your hands free. Danny and Janiqua, take the girl.”

Some grumbling at that, but if they did encounter any obstacles, Noa trusted Remo to keep his head. After a second they complied, with Janiqua stepping forward to take the weight of the girl.

“Damn, she’s heavy,” she grumbled under her breath. “Should we even bother? She looks—”

“We’re taking her,” Noa snapped. Even if the girl was suffering through the final stages of PEMA, they weren’t going to leave her here to be subjected to more “tests.” “Now let’s go. Gear out and ready.”

She gripped her Taser and pepper spray as she led the way toward the south side of the building. The next three short hallways should lead to the control room, and the loading bay was just past it. Maybe they’d even get lucky and find a vehicle there.

Noa trotted down the corridor briskly, trying to ignore the clock ticking off each second in her head. They’d been inside for at least ten minutes. The smoke was dissipating; a curtain of it shrouded the ceiling, but it didn’t feel like every breath was piercing her chest anymore.

Their footsteps were painfully loud against the tiled floor. If guards were waiting up ahead, they might as well be announcing their approach with a bullhorn.

They made it down the first hall, then the second, without encountering another soul. The lights were still on, the fluorescent bulbs making the bright white walls and floor throb painfully against her sore red eyes. By the time they reached the turnoff to the third corridor, the smoke had completely disappeared.

Noa held up a hand, stopping the others. The control room should be right around the next corner. She had no idea what it would look like; the blueprints had only marked it by name, without detailing whether or not it was closed off from the hall, or facing it with picture windows. She knew which option she preferred.

Noa eased her head around. Her heart sank. Worst-case scenario: The white wall ended in an enormous plate-glass window that stretched from waist height to the ceiling.

Worse yet, the door stood open, with two guards directly in front of it. The smaller one was dressing down the other guy, waving his arms and shouting about screwups. The guy hulking over him had his head bowed. Both were wearing khaki uniforms and had guns in hip holsters. Standard rent-a-cops, the only distinction being that no patches or insignia identified the company they worked for.

The set of double doors behind them should lead to the loading dock.

Noa ducked back and considered their options. They could rush them, but even if they managed to quickly overwhelm one guard, the other would have plenty of time to draw his weapon. And there might be more guards in the control room.

Deciding, she waved Zeke forward and whispered in his ear. He grimaced when she told him her plan, but nodded. She leaned past him and hissed at Remo, “Stay here, we’ll handle the guards.”

Remo’s brow furrowed, but he nodded and raised his Taser.

She and Zeke stood. “Ready?” she asked in a low voice.

“It’s a good night to die,” he muttered under his breath.

“Not helpful,” Noa countered as she slung an arm around his waist. Together, they stepped around the corner into the hallway, in plain view of the guards.

Teo was undergoing the worst crash course in the history of driving. He’d managed to get the engine started, and was pretty sure he had one foot on the clutch, but every time he shifted into first gear there was a terrible grinding noise and the truck lurched forward, then stopped. They’d only moved a foot, and now the parking lot was entirely devoid of other cars.

Through the windshield he could see Boss Man striding purposefully toward them, his hand resting on the butt of his gun.

“Hey, Daisy?” he called desperately. “This would be a really great time to pull yourself together.”

She sniffled, but didn’t answer.

“Great,” Teo muttered. Jaw tight, he pressed the pedal on the left to the floor again, and let it out slowly as he tried to shift into first.

The engine stalled again.
Crap.

The guard was almost upon them, approaching the driver’s side window. Teo raised a hand and forced a weak smile, but he could tell the guard wasn’t buying it.

“Toss the keys out the window, son,” Boss Man called, stopping a foot away and drawing his gun. His face was florid, and streams of sweat coursed down it. “You and me are gonna have a little talk.”

“I-I’ve really got to get the truck back,” Teo said weakly.

“Do you now?” The guy’s eyes narrowed. “’Cause it looks like you don’t have a clue how to drive that thing. Which makes me wonder how you got hired to work it.”

“I usually just hand out tacos.”

“Sure you do.” He wiggled his fingers. “Toss me the keys. Then you and your girlfriend get out nice and slow with your hands on your head.”

Teo sucked in a deep breath. So this was it. He flashed back on what the others had said about the fate of captured kids—he should have run away when he had the chance. At least Daisy had finally stopped wailing.

“I said get out!” Boss Man repeated, his nostrils flaring.

Slowly, Teo raised both hands off the steering wheel and reached for the keys. As he did, the radio beside him crackled again. “Hello? Teo?”

The guard’s brow furrowed. “The hell’s that?”

“Nothing, it’s just—” Teo frantically searched for an explanation. “My boss,” he finished lamely.

“Yeah? On a radio? Toss that out the window, too, boy.” The guard extended a hand for it.

Teo scooped the radio off the seat beside him. As he moved to hand it over, a voice in his ear said, “Duck.”

Obligingly, Teo dropped to the side. As he did, the guard’s eyes widened. Daisy’s arm extended past him; she was holding something. Small barbs shot out from it and latched on to the front of the guard’s khaki shirt. His eyes popped open even wider and he went completely stiff, then dropped to the ground. Taser wires trailed out the window to him.

“About time,” Teo muttered.

Daisy nudged his shoulder. “Sorry. Now move, so I can get us out of here.”

“Noa wants us to pick them up,” Teo said, sliding over with relief.

“Pick them up? Where?” Daisy asked as she climbed behind the wheel.

Teo looked past her. Boss Man was lying on the ground twitching, his face contorted with pain. “At the loading dock.”

“What about the van?” Daisy asked. “Isn’t Crystal supposed to get them?” The engine sputtered to life. Teo watched as she depressed the brake pedal, then slowly released the clutch while shifting into first. As the truck eased forward, he thought,
So that’s how you do it.

“I don’t know, there wasn’t exactly a lot of time to talk.”

“Well, did she say which side it’s on? The building’s huge.”

Daisy sounded annoyed, which irked him. If she hadn’t completely lost it, they wouldn’t even still be here. He resisted the temptation to point that out, instead saying, “The south side.”

“Well, that’s helpful,” Daisy grumbled. “You have any idea which way is south?”

Teo swallowed hard. “No.”

“F’in fantastic.” Daisy sighed. “I guess we’ll have to circle the whole place.” As they slowly rolled toward the warehouse, she glanced in the side mirror. “Crap.”

“What?”

“The guard’s getting back up. And he looks pissed.”

Peter had given up on trying to keep his legs still. The power was fading on his laptop; the low battery alert flashed steadily, and he’d forgotten to bring a car charger. He was staring at the screen, trying to interpret what was happening in Phoenix.

Suddenly, the computer shut down.

He stared at the blank screen for a few seconds, then slammed the laptop closed.

According to the clock on his dashboard, it was 3:20 a.m. The raid had started nearly a half hour earlier. Noa and her team should be back at their safe house by now, but he hadn’t heard anything. And he should’ve. Noa always posted an encoded message in their chat room after a successful mission, letting him know that everything had gone off without a hitch.

And now that his computer was dead, he had no way of checking.

Peter rubbed his eyes; they felt sore and gritty. He was supposed to meet Amanda for breakfast in five hours. He planned on finally sharing his fears about her condition, and he’d prefer to be relatively well rested for that conversation. But even though he was exhausted, he doubted he’d be able to sleep tonight. Worry chewed at him; the sense of impotence had never hit him more strongly.

Peter tapped his finger on the top of the laptop, considering. Maybe he could risk checking in from home. He’d take every precaution, routing through VPNs to hide his IP address. And he wouldn’t log on for long, just check once an hour until he received confirmation that Noa was okay.

It’ll be fine
, he told himself. It was unlikely that Pike & Dolan were monitoring his internet usage in the middle of the night anyway.

Peter turned on the ignition and rolled back down the driveway. He’d send Amanda a text asking to meet for lunch instead. Delaying it a few hours couldn’t possibly make a difference, right?