He gives me one curt nod, and then he grabs the handle on the door and slides it open. The wind whips up against his hair and then he looks back one more time before jumping out of the ’copter.
“Time?” I call.
“Eighteen twenty-three and fifty seconds,” Sheila says. “Blue Corp outer security has been disabled and we have ten minutes to initiate.”
I get on my new and improved bike and start it up. The sound of the wind and the rotors blocks the engine noise out completely. I really hate to lose this bike.
“When you come home tonight, you’ll see the minions making you a new one, Lincoln.” Sheila coos it into the headset like a mother who wants to entice her child to obey the rules.
“Roger that, Sheils. See you on the other side.”
And then I give the bike full throttle and take off into the night sky.
I fall in slow motion for a few moments. My mind has not yet caught up to the fact that I just rode a motorcycle out of a helicopter, and so the velocity of my fall makes no sense.
But the spire of the Blue Castle is suddenly rushing up towards me and everything is going too fast.
I stand up on the pegs and bend my knees as the seven-hundred-pound bike crashes through the glass. The bike comes down hard, jolting me forward, catapulting me over the handlebars, and throwing me into the other side of the glass-walled building.
That’s the way to make an entrance.
I get to my feet and assess.
The Old Man is still seated in his luxurious leather chair like nothing happened. His hands are folded in his lap and one ankle is propped on the opposite knee like he hasn’t a care in the world.
“We’ve been waiting,” he says.
I look to my left and see Molly. She seems taller, stronger, and brimming with confidence. She strides forward like a cat stalking prey.
I’m her prey.
“Do you like her, Lincoln?”
I look at the Old Man, but only briefly, because Molly is slowly making her way towards me. She’s got a loop of something in her gloved hands, and her fingers dance along its metallic length. I know he’s done something to her. I knew it as soon as I confirmed the energy output of the Blue Castle had skyrocketed.
But what exactly that something might be, I have no clue.
“That’s a nice assortment of weapons on your person,” the Old Man says. “Too bad you can’t use them on us.”
“There is no us for you, Boar. There is only the we of Molly and Lincoln.”
“You mean Alpha and Omega. All things must end, Alpha Three. Even you.” He nods his head towards Molly. “Even her.”
“Yeah,” I say, nodding as I keep a wary eye on Molly. “There’s an end coming all right. But it won’t be me and her.”
“No?” he asks. “You can’t even fight back, Alpha Three. You can’t harm me, I’m your maker. And you can’t harm her, she’s your Omega. Isn’t inhibition sickness inconvenient?”
Eighteen twenty-five and forty seconds, Sheila says in my head. Keep him talking, Lincoln.
Molly is on me before I can even open my mouth. Her foot kicks me in the jaw and makes me spin, blood spattering out of my busted lip. I stagger to the side, but hold my balance.
“Lincoln Wade, meet your worst nightmare.”
“Molly,” I say, my hands up in the air. Her eyes are blank, like she doesn’t even see me. And nothing about her says she is the least bit afraid, even though she should be. I am just as dangerous to her as she is to me now. But the difference is, I will never—ever—hurt her again.
Shots are fired from the hole in the broken glass of the spire, hitting random things around the office. Molly looks up to see Case entering the same way I did, minus the bike. He’s got a thin metal line attached to him that ends inside the helicopter. He falls hard, and the ’copter weaves so close to the building, I have a moment of panic that Sheila might crash it.
Another kick from Molly snaps my attention back to the fight, but she catches me off guard this time and I go down to one knee.
Case is firing at the chair where the Blue Boar was just sitting. Pieces of tattered leather go flying, but his target is gone.
“Looking for me?” the Boar says, from atop a desk a few feet away.
His distraction works because Molly takes Case’s rifle and throws it across the room. Case has got a pistol out before the gun even lands and he shoots the ground near her feet. She doesn’t even flinch.
“Do not hit her, Case!” I yell.
“He can’t hit her, Alpha Three.” The Boar laughs. “Wishful thinking, but so protective. I made you a good Alpha, didn’t I?”
Molly’s attention returns to me even as Case continues to shoot the floor as she steps. He misses her by mere inches and even that is enough to make him sick. The bullets go wild but still she never even notices.
“Molly,” I say, putting my hands up as she comes towards me. “Molly, listen to me!”