Meg slipped one of her guns in her waistband and crouched in the shadows of the men’s barracks. She crawled on her belly through the white Iceberg Roses, oblivious of the sharp thorns digging into her face and arms as she never lost her empath’s sight leading toward her mother. Creed, having already switched off all pain sensors to cope with the gunshot wound Slider dealt him back at the admin building, only cringed at the thorns when he saw them tear at Meg’s beautiful, pale skin.
She stopped crawling, locking eyes on the scene some sixty yards to her left. The scene was even worse than her gift warned. Her mother lay sprawled, face down in the grass. Slider and Williams stood over her. Slider’s gun was aimed directly at her mother’s soft brown hair that fluttered innocently in the night’s breeze. Williams’ face was thrown back in a menacing laugh.
Take care, my sweet Meggie, she heard her mother’s thoughts as clearly as if she’d spoken them in a whisper at her ear.
No Mom! Meg was oblivious of the tears slipping down her terrified cheeks to christen the fistful of earth below.
You know what has to be done, Meggie. Look after your brothers. You have been the joy of my life, little one. I love you so much. Tell your brothers I love them, too. Go with God. Run, Meg. GO!
Even as she was sending these thoughts to her daughter across the courtyard, the boots of the metahumans running in formation at double time could be heard.
The first of the soldiers emerged from the northeast corner of the courtyard. Williams barked orders at them and they moved to grab Margo.
Creed had positioned himself beside Meg, there in the darkness. The scent of roses was overpowered by the fresh mulch that had been placed around the base of the bushes, smelling of both life and death.
Meg’s eyes were locked onto Williams. As he stood, bloody head tossed back in wicked laughter, something on the ground around his feet began to shift.
His shadow.
It was his shadow cast by the courtyard’s lamps that began to morph. They shimmied together and almost seemed to bubble before they turned a wet, sickly black like hot tar. The black shadow grew beyond the laws of physics. It seemed to be taking on a shape of its own…separate of Williams. But as the evil doctor moved his arms out to his side, Meg saw the shadow stretch dragon-like wings.
A demon shadow?
Creed’s strong hand reached out and grabbed Meg’s. “The grenades, where are they?” He whispered with a controlled calm that forced Meg’s attention.
Did he see what I just saw?
She reached to her waistband and pulled out the two metal, lumpy spheres.
“On the count of three, we throw these. You throw right, blocking the soldiers’ path toward the admin building. I’ll throw left, aiming for Williams and Miro. We both run to your mom. I’ll collect her, and you provide cover fire. Then we get the hell out of here.”
“How?” Meg was trying to control her panic, drawing her strength from Creed’s courage.
“Send Alik an empath message. Tell him to stop the van at the gate. Can you do that?”
“I think I can,”
“No time to stop now, they’re about to take her away. Ready?”
Together Creed and Meg carefully moved to a standing position, still hidden in the shadow of the building and nodded a silent countdown, yanked out the safety clips and threw their grenades.
They arched perfectly, the moonlight glinting off the olive green metal.
Meg closed her eyes and forced herself to focus on Alik, mentally screaming down the silver connection she knew tied her to her brother, insisting he stop the van and wait for them.
Chapter 12 Eight Minutes-ish
“What’s wrong?” Farrow had moved to sit in the front passenger seat next to Alik while they waited for their signal when she noticed a strange expression take over Alik’s face. The baby had settled back into a deep sleep and was drooling on Farrow’s strong shoulder. His fist was still holding a lock of Meg’s dark hair. The little boy had moved his hand to hold it close to his face, as though breathing her scent was his soothing tonic.
Alik had been quiet and on-edge, but now he looked as though he was trying to hear something from far away, his eyes wide and ear cocked.
“Alik?” Evan’s voice came from the back of the van. He was holding the metal box in his hands, fingers trying not to feel twitchy as the detonation button was right at his fingertips.
“After we detonate, we need to drive to the front gate and wait there.” Alik’s voice sounded whispered and dreamlike.
“What? Why? Creed told us to go back to the hotel.” Farrow tried to stay calm, as the baby seemed to sense her sudden change in emotions by stirring in her arms. She couldn’t help it, though. The idea of staying one second longer near Williams, his deadly metas or his secret Monarchs made her heart race and her muscles knot.
“Meg,” Alik said softly. “She’s telling me to stay there and wait for her.”
Just then they heard what sounded like one enormous explosion. All their heads whipped around to follow the sound and saw a burst of light.