Trap frowned. “Just how dangerous is this?”
“There are fans every twenty feet or so, large industrial ones. The vent itself is very small. I can barely fit in it.” Pepper showed him her arms where the skin was shaved off in spots. The tight-fitting sleeves, although thin, had still been shredded in several places, leaving her skin exposed. “The babies will fit through, but each section is blocked by a fan. I have to stop the blades from rotating long enough to get through and I’m not the best at controlling them.” She rubbed her temples. “I can do it, but it’s not easy.”
“And it comes with a price,” Trap said. “If you think it’s too dangerous, Pepper, we can get the others to take the second elevators. It won’t be pretty, but it can be done.”
“I got Ginger through. I’ll get both of the babies through,” Pepper said, infusing confidence into her voice. She jumped up and caught the edge of the vent, drawing herself up. “Put them in after me and good luck.”
Trap picked up the two babies and held them close. They were still shivering. The cell was too cold for their systems. He tried to warm them as he waited for Pepper to slowly be swallowed up inside the duct. Cannelle put her arms around his neck and held on while he lifted Thym into the narrow opening. When she had crawled all the way inside, he put little Cannelle in after her.
“Stay close, but don’t get near that fan until Pepper tells you,” he cautioned.
Cannelle turned her head and looked back at him over her shoulder. He saw a mop of wavy dark hair and large expressive eyes and then she was gone, crawling after her sister and mother.
Trap took a deep breath and made his way to the wall in the center of the small room. This wall was the only wall shared by the cells on the other side of it. The only way to get into that side was through the second elevator. He hoped the cells on the other side were a mirror image of the one he was standing in. He didn’t want to come out inside the cell with an unknown woman already condemned to death, especially one declared too dangerous to live.
He put his hands on the concrete and absorbed the feel and structure of it. This time it was a little easier, as he already was connected to the properties in the mixture. He waited, breathing deep, forcing his rebelling mind under control. No GhostWalker left another behind, and he wouldn’t leave this woman, no matter what she was.
If she tried to kill him, well, that was another thing altogether, but he’d do his best to convince her he’d come to help her. He let the wrenching sick feeling overtake him as his body was torn apart, pulled in every direction. His skin felt as if it was removed, leaving his insides spilling out everywhere.
Cold set in. Darkness. He was utterly alone. There was no human sound, no human feeling, only the bitter cold and the endless darkness. He came out on the other side, staggering, going to his knees and then rolling onto his butt, his back against the wall, pressing both hands to his gut to keep his insides from spilling out.
For a moment he was so disoriented, he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Had he arrived that way in the babies’ cell, the soldiers would have easily killed him. He tried desperately to drag air into his lungs and calm his quivering gut. When he lifted his head, his neck felt as if it had been wrenched around two or three times.
“êtes-vous tous droit? Se rapprocher un peu plus, je pourrais peut-être vous aider.” The question was asked in a voice that was as sultry as any Louisiana night. Silk and satin. Candlelight.
He looked up, blinking to bring her into focus. His breath left his lungs all over again. She was small, the way Pepper was small. They easily could have been related. She had a cloud of dark hair, as black as a raven’s wing, but for the brilliant red streak straight down the middle. On anyone else it might have looked terrible, but on her, it seemed as natural as her huge green eyes.
“Are you all right? Come a little closer, perhaps I can aid you,” she repeated in English.
Said the spider to the fly, he reminded himself. How the hell could a woman look every bit the seductive temptress and as innocent as all get-out at the same time? Especially one so young.
He stayed where he was. “Pepper told us about you. She got the babies out and we’ve come to get you out as well.”
Long dark lashes drifted down, veiling the expression in her eyes for a brief moment. “Why would you want to help me?”
“We’re like you. Enhanced. We stick together,” he added lamely. He couldn’t think with his brain still rattling around in his skull, banging away at the sides until he was afraid his head would explode.