Jaden Baker (74 page)

Alan put his hand on Jaden’s chest, feeling for the heartbeat.

“It’s slow. He’s really out of it. When he comes to, he’ll be like a Doberman on crank. As soon as he’s up, we run for the door and make our way to the exit. You’ll stay in the middle, I’ll lead the way, Jaden will take the rear, so he can watch you the whole time.”

Libby had never been one to be a damsel in distress, especially as she was armed with plenty of firepower to blast her way into a bank and set up an occupation. But Jaden’s need to see her protected superseded her urge to shoot people.

“Fine,” she said, nodding to him. “Do it.”

Alan bit his bottom lip, pumped his hand a few times, then swung the syringe into Jaden’s thigh, depressing the plunger.

Jaden’s eyes snapped open. He sat up as he took in a huge breath of air. He gasped as he saw the syringe sticking out of his leg. He yanked it out and threw it away. As predicted, Jaden leapt off the floor and his face and arms twitched with a surplus of energy.

When Libby came into his line of sight, Jaden picked her up and hugged her so tightly she couldn’t breath. She didn’t care. Burying her face into his neck, arms wrapped around him, Libby was happy to have him holding her again. Breathing was secondary.

Behind her she heard Alan getting off the floor, disturbing the chains. She pushed away as Jaden released her, and both of them looked to Alan.

With a nervous smile, Alan said: “It’s time to go.”

Maze indeed. Jogging through the passages was a complicated nightmare. Half the time Libby thought they were going in circles, or they were lost. But she kept her mouth closed, trying to be a team player, exercise some faith in the operation. As it turned out, Jaden did trust Alan, so Libby went along with the plan.

They came to a solid door after racing against the surveillance blackout time. The clock was ticking.

“This the exit?” Libby panted, clutching a stitch in her side.

“I think so,” Alan said. “The street should be on the other side, as well as some armed guards prepared to shoot anyone coming out of this building.”

Libby couldn’t help herself. “Oh, yippy.” She looked back at Jaden, but he was completely focused ahead of him, and if they were longer, his ears would’ve been pricked forward.

“You have outside help,” Jaden said to Alan.

“I had to. This operation has been a month of heavy planning. I’m not the only sour agent here. Not all of us are sick bastards like Madrid,” Alan said.

Jaden wasn’t listening. He advanced to the door and put his hand on it. “This is the exit.”

“Well let’s go then. Why are we standing around?” Libby asked. She took a gun from a holster.

“It opens from the outside,” Alan said. “It’ll open soon,” he added, watching Jaden’s back.

Jaden walked forward, and the door rolled up. Of all the doors here, this one sounded real: heavy and metallic. Orange light slipped inside, inching up their bodies as the door lifted.

It was sunset. They ran out through the door, and only Libby noticed the six dead guards outside the door, slumped to the ground still armed, with no blood or any sign of injury. Jaden grabbed her hand, pulled her up the ramp and away from the bodies that she couldn’t stop staring at.

A green Land Rover waited for them at the top of the sloping hill. Libby looked back to where they came from. They’d been at the bottom of a hill, and all around them were more hills. She had expected to be in a city, someplace populated, but this place was remote.

“Come on,” Jaden said, tugging her to the car. Alan hopped in the passenger seat. Jaden opened the backdoor for Libby to crawl into the backseat behind the driver. Jaden piled in after her, closed the door, and the car kicked up dirt and rock as it sped away.

Alan slumped down in the front seat, sighing and laughing.

“Was it just me, or was that way too easy?” Libby asked, but she was the only one who held that sentiment.

Alan flipped around and laughed. “A month of planning. A million things could’ve gone wrong. Ten people on the inside of Archcroft helped orchestrate this. You can bet we tripped some kind of alarm. Madrid will know there’s been a break out.”

Libby shrugged. “I’m glad it went smoothly, but I was expecting more of a resistance.” She holstered one of her guns, and Jaden watched her with apprehension. She’d forgotten about his aversion to them.

“I like weaponry,” she remarked, pulling her seatbelt across her chest. “Not all of us can throw helicopters into cars.”

“
SUV
into a helicopter,” Jaden corrected her.

She thought for a second. “Right, that’s what I said.” She inhaled deeply, blew the air out her lips and faced forward, looking at the long blonde hair of the driver. What kind of observer was she, to just now notice the getaway driver was a blonde woman?

Libby wanted to ask Jaden about her, but he was staring out the window. Alan chewed his fingernails doing the same. It was silent in the car. She was expecting more talking, planning or scheming. What were they going to do next?

In the faint reflection of the window, Libby saw Jaden’s pensive face. Granted, he had a lot to think about, but he looked sullen, nothing like she thought he would feel after escaping a maze where he was held prisoner. She debated whether or not she should rouse him. When he didn’t move but kept staring, she decided to leave him alone with his thoughts. His thinking allowed her to do the same.

Seth. Jaden hadn’t ever mentioned a Seth to her. She’d assumed he’d told her everything. She was wrong. What was Seth? Asking Jaden point blank was out of the question, at least in the current situation. But she still wondered.

“We’re going to drive you to another location where you’ll find a car,” Alan said finally. “You can drive it someplace safe. In the back of this car there are two suitcases full of clothes, cash, and fake IDs so you can leave—”

Jaden sat forward. “No,” he said.

Libby and Alan exchanged a look.

“No?” Alan asked. “The plan was to get you both out. You have to run.”

“No more running,” Jaden said.

Libby spoke. “Jaden,” she said gently, “it might be a good idea until we can get our bearings.”

“No,” Jaden said again, this time with force. “I’m not running again. He needs to be destroyed. I’ve had enough. You don’t have to help me,” he said to Alan. “This is between me and him. He needs to die.”

The car lumbered on, bouncing over bumps in the road. Libby tried getting Jaden’s attention, but he wouldn’t look at her.

“I’ll help you,” said the driver.

Libby did a double take.

Christine removed her sunglasses and set them on the dash. “I know where he lives.”

Jaden showed no sign of shock or surprise. So he had to know it was Christine, the woman who’d thrown her in front of a car and tried to kill them both three months ago.

“Thank you,” Jaden responded. “I can use it.”

Libby opened her mouth to speak, but only air came out. Surely this wasn’t happening. The woman was crazy. “Logic” and “intellect” were two words that didn’t come in Christine’s dictionary. Now she was driving them? How was Libby the only person taking issue with this?

“Christine?” she asked.

“Molly,” she replied, not moving her head.

“It’s Libby now.”

Christine didn’t respond.

“I’m sorry, not to be ‘that girl’ or anything, but why the hell do we trust Christine?” she asked, hoping Jaden would answer. He didn’t. His attention was outside the car.

“You’re still mad at me for the thing in Seattle,” Christine said, her voice flat.

The thing in Seattle. “You almost killed me.”

They were losing speed. Christine found a shoulder and pulled over, put on the parking break, and turned off the engine. She twist in her chair, put her hands on either side of her seat and stared at Libby over the headrest. “Do we need to have a girl talk?”

Crazy. She’s nuts.

“Why did you try to kill me?” she asked. “Let’s start there, work our way back.”

Christine sat on her calves, chewed on her thumbnail. “It’s kinda a long story.”

Libby rolled her eyes. “Those are my favorite kind. Enlighten me.”

Now Jaden spoke. “We’re pressed for time.”

“You were there,” Libby said at him. “She tried to kill us, remember? Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m all smiles and daisies that you’re helping us out of this shit storm, but I’m a tweensy bit confused. Your allegiance changes more than...” she struggled to find an accurate comparison, “insert clever analogy here! You’re constantly changing your mind. Who’s side are you really on? Why should we trust you? And why am I the only one having a fit over here?”

Christine narrowed her eyes at Jaden. “You like her?”

“Hey,” Libby said, and Christine giggled.

“It looks like you’re the only one with a problem,” she said to Libby, smiling in an odd way, exposing her top and bottom teeth. “Does anyone else care if I drive now?”

Both Jaden and Alan responded with a strong: “No.”

Libby unbuckled her seatbelt, slid over and put her hand on Jaden’s shoulder. She wanted to hear his reasoning for abandoning principles and trusting Christine, an explosive and dangerous sort of person who could turn on them at any moment. But he didn’t react to her touch, he continued to stare out of the window, watching the sun dip below the horizon. She’d never seen him so stoic and wanted to know what was wrong.

Before the words would form in her mouth, Libby closed it, thinking. Today she’d seen a fraction of what he’d been through. And she had no idea what Madrid had done once the camera was switched off, didn’t know what he’d said. It wasn’t out of Jaden’s character to keep quiet and think, especially when she recalled the condition she and Alan found him in. The memory constricted her throat, and she’d been an observer, hadn’t been the one chained to the floor and drugged. If she felt as badly as she had, seeing him like that, how must he have felt to be there, treated so inhumanely.

She wanted him to know she didn’t think any less of him, but she would not say it now. Staring out the window, it was obvious he didn’t want to be in this car or participate in any kind of conversation. Whatever he was mulling over, he wanted to do it alone.

Sliding back to her side of the seat, Libby refastened her seatbelt.

“Where are we?” she asked, her voice calm.

Alan answered. “North of San Francisco. Joseph Madrid lives in the city.”

Libby examined her hands, the lines inside the palms where they folded. Nervousness consumed her thoughts as the realization of what they were about to do hit her. There was no question in her mind that Joseph Madrid deserved to die. What he’d done to Jaden was unheard of, barbaric, and as long as he lived he would have a hold over him, over them all. Freedom relied on Madrid’s demise.

She had never killed anyone, nor been an accessory to it. The four of them traveled south, heading into a city, with one mission in mind: murder. Jaden confessed to her months ago, when they were still hiding, that he had killed before. Whether it was her imagination, wishful thinking, or accurate assessment, Jaden didn’t enjoy killing people, he saw it as necessary to keep his freedom. Killing Madrid would seal it.

Thinking about it made her dizzy, so she tried forcing a different subject on her brain. “Alan, you said ten people on the inside helped. Why so many? Isn’t everyone loyal to Madrid?”

Alan twisted around to see her. “Not really. Madrid’s on the extreme end of the spectrum, and a lot of people
—
myself included
—
have stayed in Archcroft to stir things up. After what happened to Dalton, it only got people more angry to resist him.”

Not moving away from the window, Jaden asked: “What happened to Dalton?”

Alan glanced sideways at both Libby and Christine. “You don’t remember?” he asked.

Jaden shook his head and rubbed his face. “Remember what?”

Of course he wouldn’t remember, Libby thought, even though he was the one who’d done it. Parting this kind of news wasn’t something she wanted to do, so she took a play from his book and watched the hills pass the car.

“He’s paralyzed from the neck down,” Alan said.

The leather seats made a rubbing sound as Jaden moved from the window. “What? How?”

Christine eyed him from the rearview mirror. “You did it.”

“It was right after Madrid got you at the hospital, while Libby was there. Dalton was thrown and dropped from fifty feet. It’s a shock he survived.” Alan resumed his position and the car was quiet again.

“Why can’t I remember?” Jaden mumbled, peering at Libby. “I’m sorry.”

She unbuckled her seatbelt, slid to him, and grabbed his hands. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “Madrid made you do it. He’s a monster. We’re going to kill him.”

“
I’m
going to kill him,” Jaden said.

Alan cleared his throat. “Hey, what are the chances of Seth coming back? I mean, no offense to either of you, but he got things done.”

Jaden withdrew, resumed studying anything outside of the car. “No, he’s not coming back,” he mumbled.

“He’d be handy in an ambush,” Alan commented.

“Who’s Seth?” Christine asked.

“It’s not important right now,” Libby said.