“Meg!” Creed shook her by the shoulders. “Snap out of it, stay with me. Gavil and I will go take care of Williams. Slider, Farrow you two trail behind us. You’re our backup in case things go south.” Slider, Gavil and Farrow all nodded. Each of their faces etched in angry stone.
“Alik, Evan, Meg…you stick to the plan. Go to the hospital building, sweep it quickly, then blow it the hell off the face of this Earth. Clear?”
Everyone murmured affirmative. Alik had pulled the van near the hospital, which wasn’t the original plan, but shit, all hell was breaking loose.
“Where is everyone?” Alik was scanning the compound for the metas he was sure would be present.
“It looks like a ghost town.” Evan breathed, craning his neck around to look back the way they’d come.
“This can’t be good,” Gavil groaned.
“If he knows we’re here, we could be in for a whole army of pissed off and delusional metas,” Slider whispered.
“Why wouldn’t they have been waiting at the entrance? Why let us get so far into the compound?” Farrow frowned.
Every eye in the van peered anxiously out the tinted windows, stretching their excellent meta vision into every growing shadow. They were tense and ready for attack.
When nothing happened for a moment, Alik put the van into park and turned to glance back at the others. “If all hell’s about to break loose, let’s get on with it.” His jaw was locked angrily.
“Hell, yeah,” Gavil growled.
“Let’s do this,” Farrow nodded to the others.
The ominous sensation was thick in the air.
Creed locked eyes with Meg one last time and reached out to hold her beautiful face in the calloused hand that wasn’t holding his gun. Unable to stop her reaction to his tenderness, she leaned into his palm and closed her eyes against the terror, instead wrapping herself in this soldier’s devotion. With the speed and grace of a panther, Creed turned away from her and threw the back doors open. In that instant all four metas were gone, leaving the siblings alone in the van.
“Put your comms on channel eight. Let’s get to work,” Alik ordered.
Meg, Alik and Evan scrambled out of the van. Evan ran to the building and began working his way around. He stopped periodically to set the explosives in their predetermined locations.
Alik yanked his sister’s hand and ran into the hospital. “Come on, Meg. I can’t do this alone.”
The chill in the night air helped shake some sense back into Meg’s numb mind. “You’re not alone, Alik. I’m with you.”
He took a moment to watch her eyes before nodding and stepping into the foyer of the hospital. Since security was so tight at the perimeter of the Facility, there were no guards standing around the lobby—they’d been hoping for this. Alik and Meg ducked into the stairwell without the triage nurses noticing and raced up three flights to the top floor where Creed had warned them they’d find the laboratory. The sensitive materials should be here.
Meg had to know.
She flung her senses across the floor, felt through walls, around corners, looking desperately for something she was terrified she would find.
She had to find the children.
Chapter 43 Meet the Monarch
Creed led the way back to the administration building at a fast clip. His mind was racing, but he forced himself to focus on the here and now. All four metas approached the doors cautiously, ready for a battle, but there was no one there.
“This isn’t right,” Gavil whispered as they ran to the stairwell. “Something feels very wrong about this, Creed.”
“We’re here to complete an objective, soldier,” Creed growled at his older brother. The truth was, he felt it, too. Something was off. His senses were off the charts screaming at him to fight or fly.
When they reached the third floor, Creed whispered to Farrow and Slider. “This is where we split up. Keep your comms open to channel four and listen hard. If you hear some shit going down, or don’t hear from us at all in—” he checked his watch, “eight minutes, assume we’re dead and it’s up to you.” The look he gave his team was beyond serious. “On my mark,” each of them reached to their watches to set the silent timers.
“Mark.” All four watches were clicked. The countdown began.
With no time to waste on speeches, the boys raced down the hall on silent feet to the massive double doors. The brothers paused on either side, each reaching to grab the handle of the door closest to them. Creed watched his brother steady his hands then silently counted to three.
No hesitation.
The boys flung the massive doors wide and aimed their weapons around the dimly lit room.
There, sitting just as Meg had described, was Williams. His gloved hands were carefully placing the fine China cup delicately down on its matching saucer. The room smelled of expensive leather and Earl Gray tea. His desk was neatly organized. Only a laptop was open and angled so he could easily see both it and his guests.