VOLITION (Perception Trilogy, book 2) (25 page)

Mara cursed.

And so did I. The bullet had grazed my left bicep. I grabbed
the wound with my hand, a gush of warm liquid squishing in between my fingers.

Mara stepped toward me, and I was trapped. Her left eye glowed
red, an electronic camera, replacing the eye that was shot at the commune. The
ray scanned me.

“Your vital signs are strong,” she said. Her right cyborg arm
hung limply, but she reached for me with her good arm.

My instinct was to shrink back. Then I heard Mary’s voice in my
head.
Step into your attacker.

Despite the excruciating pain and my mind-numbing fear, I
forced myself to do it. I stepped toward Mara and blocked her arm, screaming
from the pain that scorched down my injured limb. I flattened my right fist and
like a cobra, I struck her sharply in the throat.

Mara folded over, grabbing at her neck. I ran out of the
kitchen toward the factory.

Blood dripped from my wound, like red breadcrumbs for the evil
witch to follow. I pulled off my shirt and pressed it to my arm as I ran. The
factory door was stiff from lack of use, but I tugged on it with all my
strength. It inched open enough for me to slip through. Mara came around the
corner in time to see me go in.

I didn’t bother trying to shut the door after me. I needed to
find a place to hide.

The factory hadn’t seen heat in months. It was like a massive
walk-in freezer. Ice had built up on the inside of the windows and a skim of
frost covered the machinery.

I shivered in my bra as I searched for a place to hide. I
crouched behind a broad, stout piece of machinery.

And waited.

Was this how I was to die? Did Grandpa V really see me as that
big a threat? Did he hate me that much?

My breathing was deep and erratic. I tried to calm myself,
quiet my breaths. I held back a sob. If Mara was going to kill me, I was going
to make her work for it.

My arm throbbed with pulsing, searing pain. I shivered with
unimaginable chills.

“Zoe?” Mara called out sinisterly sweet.

I stiffened.

I peeked around the machine in time to see her bionic legs in
action as she jumped to the top of a cabinet twice her height. From there she
had a full view of the room.

She could see me.

I dashed away anyway, knowing it was hopeless. She pounced off
the cabinet and shouted, “Stop!”

I didn’t want to die. If I stopped, maybe she’d show mercy. I
raised my uninjured, goose-pimpled arm. “G-grandpa w-wants me a-alive.”

Mara snickered. “Actually, he doesn’t. You’re a nuisance and
you know too much.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Too bad.”

I turned to face her and heard the shot.

I waited for the burst of pain or the blackness of death, but
only shuddered in shock as I stood there unwounded.

Mara dropped to the ground, dead, this time for good. Blood
pooled around her head where part of her skull was missing.

Noah stood behind her, arms held out, gripping his gun with
both hands. He tossed it to the floor and ran to me. “Zoe, oh my God! Are you
all right?”

“My arm,” I whimpered through chattering teeth.

He pulled off his coat and covered me, gently embracing me. He
kissed my head, and I burst into tears. “You’re okay,” he said. “I got you.”

Then he cupped my chin and stared hard into my eyes. His lips
landed on mine, and he kissed me passionately like we both would die if he
didn’t.

Chapter
35

Noah led me around the cold body of agent Mara, scooping to
pick his gun up on our way out. I still couldn’t’ believe that he’d found me,
that he’d saved me from certain death. “How did you know?” I asked.

“I looked for you when we got back, and saw this.” He pointed
to the blood spots on the floor. His eyes caught mine. “My heart almost
stopped. I’m so glad I got there in time.”

“Me, too.”

The others must’ve heard the blast. They reached us just as we
entered the hall.

“Quick, Mary,” Noah said. “Zoe’s been injured.”

Mary peeked under Noah’s coat and took in my blood soaked shirt
wrapped around my arm, then jumped up to retrieve her first-aid kit.

“What happened?” Jabez asked

“She’s been shot.” Noah lifted me into his arms and carried me
back to the living area.

“It’s just a flesh wound,” I said, but I couldn’t keep the pain
out of my voice.

“Who shot her?” Taylor asked, equally alarmed.

“One of the cyborg agents.”

“From the commune attack?” Taylor raised his arms. “Seriously,
they didn’t follow us. We’re clean.”

“I don’t know how she found us. It doesn’t matter now. All that
matters is that Zoe and I get out of here asap.”

“We’re going with you,” Taylor said. Then he turned to Rebecca.
“Get Zoe her clothes.” For once Rebecca did something without rolling her eyes
and huffing. She looked thoroughly freaked out.

Noah stared at him. “I don’t even know where we’re going or how
we’re getting there.”

“I told you,” Taylor said, like we were stupid. “Arizona.”

Mary cleaned my wound and I couldn’t help wincing. “Sorry, I
should’ve warned you it was going to hurt.” She taped gauze over it. “It really
should be stitched, but that will take more time than I think you have.”

Noah caught her eyes. “I’m sorry, but you guys might be getting
unwelcomed company soon.”

Mary’s gaze darted to Jabez. They stared at each other like
they were communicating telepathically.

“Is it time for Operation Red Bird?” Mary asked.

Jabez nodded. “I think so.”

Rebecca arrived with a shirt and sweater. Noah helped me ease
into them. It was like the old Noah was back. The one who obsessed over me and
possessed me. The one who loved me.

“What’s Operation Red Bird?” I asked.

They ignored my question.

“We’re seven people here,” Mary said, like there wasn’t anyone
else in the room.

“Zoe and Rebecca are like the weight of one person,” Jabez
answered. “I think it’ll be okay.”

Mary closed up the first-aid kit. “It’s a risk. We could just
do four.”

Jabez’s eyes flickered to Hannah. She sat primly on the
collapsible chair, her face pale and etched in worry. “No,” Jabez said, his
eyes still on her. “We all go or none at all.”

“What are you talking about?” Noah asked, barely keeping the
panic out of his voice. “Do you know a way out of here that we don’t? Now would
be a good time to tell us.”

Mary and Jabez locked eyes again.

“Okay, let’s do it,” she said. Then to us, “Take one small bag,
bare necessities only, and I mean bare necessities.”

We all scrambled for our things. Noah and Taylor double checked
that the dead bolt lock on the front door was secured.

Just in time. Someone started pounding on it. I almost
swallowed my heart.

Noah put a finger to his lips, warning us all to be quiet. Mary
turned out the lights. Jabez opened the door to the hallway and we followed him
out in near darkness, like rats after the pied piper.

And I wondered which one had tipped the authorities off.

Chapter
36

Noah kept my hand in his, and I was grateful for his lead. My
wounded arm throbbed, shooting pain up my shoulder and into my chest. I bit my
chapped lips to keep from crying out.

I imagined that whoever was at the front door would be
surrounding the building as well. I felt the weight of my gun tucked into my
waist along with the rifle in my shoulder bag, thankful that my shooting arm
still worked.

Jabez led us past the gym and the kitchen toward the factory
door that was still opened from when Noah and I had left it. I thought I heard
someone gasp at the blood on the floor. My blood.

My heart lurch when Jabez took us back inside. Mara’s body lay
where we’d left it, with bluish skin and a fine layer of ice forming on the
surface.

Hannah looked like she might faint. I wasn’t the only one who
noticed. Jabez propped her up and helped her until we reached the back of the
factory.

“We need to move this,” Jabez said, and Noah and Taylor jumped
to shift a large piece of machinery that concealed a door. The screeching noise
on the cement floor made me cringe. I wondered what could possibly be behind
that door that could help us escape. A tunnel system, maybe? The sewer? Were we
going to flee on foot underground?

It was worse than that.

My jaw went slack when I saw it. This was Operation Red Bird?

“A plane?” Noah said incredulously.

We all stared in awe and terror. No one besides the president flew
private planes anymore. Not even the richest GAPs.

It was white with a wide red stripe down the side and only two
propellers.

“It was my dad’s,” Jabez explained. “There’s enough gasoline in
the tank for a one way trip anywhere in North America. It’ll get us to Arizona,
no problem.”

No problem?

“Who’s going to fly it?” I sputtered.

Jabez grinned. “Me.”

“You know how to fly?”

“My dad showed me how, before they were outlawed. And I rock on
the simulator programs.”

“I know how to fly, too,” Mary said. “But first we need to push
it outside.”

More garage-type doors were opened and the guys pushed the plane
out into the back alley. It was covered in snow, but packed down from
industrial vehicles cutting through.

I had my gun out, watching for Grandpa V’s troops. It seemed
the task force he’d appointed to find me was quite small. Not one person had
made it to this side of the factory yet. My capture obviously wasn’t high on
his list of priorities.

Once the plane was out, Mary and Jabez hopped into the seats in
the front. Noah and I scrambled to get inside behind them.

“Come on,” Taylor said to Rebecca and Hannah, who were hanging
back.

“I don’t know,” Rebecca said. “This is evil.”

He reached out and grabbed Hannah’s hand. “If you stay, you
stay alone. We’re going.” He just looked at Rebecca, and I wondered if he’d let
her stay behind.

Hannah pleaded, ‘Please, Rebecca.”

“I’m the one going to hell for this, not you,” Taylor said,
reaching out his hand.

The props started spinning, and the alley filled with the sound
of the plane engine coming to life. Rebecca decided to risk hell over her life
at present and got in beside Hannah. Taylor closed the door.

Jabez shouted, “And we’re off!”

I fiddled for a seatbelt, and Noah helped me to fasten it
before doing up his own.

Our mettle was tested with the rocky takeoff. Screams filled
the plane as we lifted off, the wings tilting side to side dangerously. I
pressed my hand against my mouth to keep from yelling in fear.

Gunshots rang out. Two men had rounded the corner and fired at
us. I white-knuckled the armrest, half expecting the plane to blow up.

The shots subsided, and we remained airborne. My breathing
slowed to puffs of relief.

“We did it,” I said, amazed. Seven fugitives catapulting
through the sky in a tin can with wings.

I gazed out the window, stunned by the fact that we were flying
above the clouds. Stars sparkled in the dark sky and the moon shone full and
bright, like it was there just to light our way.

I peered into the cockpit, astounded by the number of lights
and dials, switches and levels.

“How do you know we’re going in the right direction?” I asked,
shouting over the noise of the engines.

Jabez waved his good arm and spoke loudly. “It’s got automated
pilot features. Not sure how well it works, but it’s taking us southwest to
Arizona.”

Arizona
. We were really going there. I looked at Noah
hopefully.

“I guess we’re destined to be cave dwellers,” he said.

“Just like our ancestors.”

He snickered even though I knew he didn’t believe in evolution.

I pressed into him, my breathing finally normalizing. We were
okay, safe from Grandpa V and his posse, at least for now. Hannah and Rebecca
squeezed in tightly beside Taylor. Hannah still wrung her hands nervously in
her lap, but at least Rebecca had stopped whimpering.

How would we get on together in Arizona? This daring escape had
bound us together, even though I wasn’t exactly sure why everyone had
volunteered to flee with Noah and me. Mary and Jabez had reasons I didn’t
understand. And it had to be more than loyalty to Celia for Taylor to follow me
to this extreme, didn’t it?

I let my eyes close, exhausted from the trauma of the evening.
I had time to figure everything out later.

At least I thought I did.

The plane suddenly tipped downward. My eyes popped open and my
throat constricted as my hot breath came out in a scream.

We weren’t going to make it to the desert. We were going to
crash and burn in the snowy hills of Oklahoma.

The End of Book 2

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Volition
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Stay tuned for CONTRITION, coming Fall 2013! Read on for the
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As Lee
Strauss I write historical and science fiction/romance for upper YA and adult
readers. I also write light and fun stuff under the name Elle Strauss. You can
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