Lucy screamed, "Luke, move!"
He hopped backward just in time to avoid the blade that came up from the ground to split him in two. It nicked his leg instead, and he fell to the ground, the air knocked out of him.
Beleth crawled over to Luke using his spider legs, the strain of his recent battle showing in his tight, pain-filled eyes, but not in his speed.
He got closer to Luke, who wheezed on the floor and clutched his leg, when the door burst open and Robyn and her team stormed in.
Beleth's eyes widened in surprise. Darren flicked his hand and sent a table flying at Beleth, who tumbled back. Robyn, Norm, Mary, Greg and Gary held guns on him, but Beleth responded without hesitation, pushing his blade into the ground again.
Luke waved his arms. "Everyone move!"
The team moved back, but the blade didn't attack from below as expected. Instead, it came up under Luke's pack with all the sleep grenades, pierced it, then changed into a mallet shape and slammed back down, crushing all the contents. Green gas exploded out, enveloping them.
Lucy screamed into the comm. "Get your masks on and get out of there."
That was it. They'd failed. But what about Sam and Drake? And their baby?
She radioed Simmons as the green vapor filled the room and blocked the camera. "We need to evacuate, now."
"Is the mission complete?"
"No. The grenades are destroyed."
"Shit! We'll send in armored trucks. Get near the gate. But first, Lucy, did Agent Riley leave his pack with you?"
"Yes." Lucy felt a panicky sickness in her gut as she lost all visual of her friends and Hunter—still stuck in the room with Beleth.
"Good. Go to the pack and open it."
Lucy didn't want to leave the computer, but she couldn't see anything now, so she dropped to the side of the bed and unzipped his bag. Wires connected to a device that looked like....
She stepped back and gasped.
"A bomb."
Chapter 114 - Sam
Drake pushed the gun in my hand and the bullet went wide, missing Steele and hitting a tank, creating a thin blue line of liquid down the side. I stared at my fingers and then glared at Drake. "What the hell?"
"I... Sam, I'm sorry." He held up his hands, as if he'd never seen them before, as if they'd just done something horrible, which they had.
I scanned his thoughts, probing deep. Why did I do that? What's wrong with me? I don't understand why my body reacted without my control.
Neither one of us had a clue as to what was going on, but at least he hadn't betrayed me. Which left one person.
Steele. He flashed a smug smile from across the room.
I tried to slip into his mind, but it had something like a firewall around it that I couldn't crack. Instead, I dove back into Drake's thoughts and tried to meld with him like we used to. "We need to attack, now!"
'I can't. I don't know why, but something's wrong.'
Steele drew a pistol and aimed it at us. "I'm sorry if things aren't going according to plan."
And yet, he didn't sound sorry. Go figure. I didn't wait for him to react, just aimed my gun again and pulled the trigger, except... I didn't pull the trigger. I lowered the gun and dropped it. I couldn't do anything else, almost as though....
I turned to Drake, fear and betrayal smothering me. "You controlled me?"
Drake's faced dropped in confusion and sadness. He didn't understand.
"It's not his fault," explained Mr. Steele. "He's been programmed to protect me." He looked to Drake. "When we met, you thought I scanned your memories. I did much more than that. I altered your thoughts, your deepest, most subconscious, basic, primal thoughts. You'll protect me, because that's what your mind has been conditioned to do."
'No, can't be right. I can't do this. I won't do this. I love Sam and Ana. I won't hurt them.'
I stood in shock. So this was why Steele had let Drake out of jail. He didn't need him to kidnap kids, he wanted him right here, right now, to deliver me to him and protect him from me all at the same time.
I knew it wasn't his fault, but it didn't matter. "You should never have come back."
Drake dropped his head. "I'm sorry. I wanted to do the right thing, to make up for my mistakes." He bent over to pick up the gun, then tried to point it at Steele. The strain of his muscles, the sadness in his eyes, expressed his agony as he cried out and dropped the weapon.
"If you can't help me, than you're a liability." I turned and kicked him hard right between the legs.
He collapsed on the ground, groaning with his eyes closed.
I scrambled for the gun, but....
Steele moved faster, and pulled the trigger.