Allie tries to trip me, but she can’t see my legs. “Ugh! Stop!”
“Give me the gun!” I step on her foot, and she lets out a shriek. “You tricked my brother! You made me help my stupid father again! You think I’ll let you get away with that?”
She manages to elbow me in the side, and I falter to the point that she almost gets control again. I don’t know where my backup is, but I sure could use some soon if she keeps being so stubborn.
“Your brother was the easiest mark ever,” she says. “He wanted to believe me. Maybe it runs in the family.”
My anger flares at her words. She’ll so regret saying that. I throw my head into hers, and it knocks her to the ground. The gun is mine, and I throw it as far away as I possibly can. Allie searches for me, fear suddenly replacing all her confidence. “No hypnotizing me. What will you do?” I ask.
She glares in my general direction. “You’re such a waste of talent.”
“Feeling’s mutual.” The betrayal hits anew. I thought she was such a good person. She had all these noble goals and the talent to reach them. “Was any of it real? Or did you even have a sister that died?”
Her lips purse. “That was real.”
“How could a hypnotist like you fall for my dad?” I say, though I know it doesn’t quite work like that. His smell would get her before she ever looked at his eyes.
“He let me study Radiasure. He believed in me when no one else did.”
“So that wasn’t the Major…” I can see my dad taking Allie in as a young girl, secretly “mentoring” her just in case she proved useful. In fact, she’s probably why he discovered the real Radiasure formula first—he knew to look because of her.
“Where’s the drug?” Mr. Mitchell yells, and that’s when I realize everyone else has gotten out of the car. They stand behind me, ready to attack. Maybe that’s why she hasn’t tried to fight back. “You’re stalling with your little stories, but I’m not stupid enough to fall for that.”
I frown, realizing he’s implying that I am. “It’s in her pocket.”
Allie’s glare is furious. “You’re such a flip-flopping traitor, you know that? Why are you helping them? I’m the one who helped you!”
My voice is caught in my throat. It does feel wrong to side with Juan’s syndicate on this, but her side’s not any better. When I think about all that’s happened, I have taken whatever side helped me most. Does that make me as bad as her?
“More like you used her,” Seth answers. “You only helped her because it meant helping yourself! Fiona had the merinite—you had to play nice with her family. You’re the traitor.”
Allie looks at the ground. “I did what I had to do.”
I stand a little taller. Maybe we are the same, but that might not be a bad thing. “It’s too bad we want different things. That drug is not going to a syndicate—I don’t care what good it can do if you’re giving it to my father.”
“Enough of this crap,” Mr. Mitchell springs forward like a cat. He stands over her with the gun pointed at her head. “Hand over the pills, or I’ll shoot you and then take them.”
Allie doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. I feel sick because Seth’s dad will do it. And though she messed with Graham’s head and deceived the Major and tried to steal the merinite, I still don’t want to see her die. “Allie, please hand it over. It’s not worth your life, is it? You can’t do anything when you’re dead.”
“Shut the hell up,” she says, though she digs into her pocket and pulls out a small plastic bottle. It glows red in the darkness.
The Phantom strides forward. “Give it to me!”
She smiles wide, and then she throws it over their heads. “Go and get it.”
“No!” Mr. Mitchell looks back just long enough for Allie to kick him in the balls, and he crumples to the ground.
She dives for his gun, but The Phantom is there first.
Bang.
His shot hits Allie in the head. She’s gone. Bea whimpers, covering her eyes at the same time Brady shields her from the gory scene. I stand there frozen, not ready to accept that she’s dead. Just like that. The Phantom didn’t even think twice about it.
“Make sure they don’t move,” he says as he hands the gun back to Mr. Mitchell. “I’ll get the drug, and we go. The O’Connells’ backup can take care of the body.”
“Yes, sir.” Seth’s dad turns to us, holding up the firearm.
The Phantom heads for the glowing speck of red in the dark desert. All my warning bells go off as I watch him. If he gets that bottle, it’s just as bad as Allie having it. She’s already done the hard labor—all Juan has to do is work on it some more to make the cure better.
I want to run over there and get it first.
There’s no guarantee Mr. Mitchell won’t notice my footsteps as I sprint.
But I take off anyway.
Chapter 45
Everything is chaos in my ears. Mr. Mitchell yells something, but then Bea’s voice screeches over that and there’s punching. Loud punching. Is it Brady? There are gunshots, but I don’t look back. I keep my eyes on the red pills, on The Phantom’s dark silhouette ahead of me.
I’m faster. I gain on him, but this only makes me nervous because I don’t have time to hide my footprints on the dusty, dry ground. They will give me away, and I’m not sure how to fight someone I can’t touch.
Taking several steps at a diagonal, I decide it’d be better not to be close when I pass him. I pump my legs as hard as I can, the fact that I’m naked barely registering against my goal. The Phantom hears my footsteps, and his face fills with rage as he searches in vain for my body.
“Don’t you dare!” he yells into the night.
The pills are feet away, and I crouch down to grab them. When I turn, I’m shocked to see he’s right there—he doesn’t hesitate to slam into me. He feels perfectly solid as we hit the ground.
“Give me the pills!” His hands reach for them, but I move them just in time.
I push and struggle against him, hating that he’s so close when I have no clothes on. That discomfort is distracting me more than I want to admit, but I try to focus on keeping the pills from him.
The Phantom finds my neck and squeezes. “I can kill you, too. You know I will.”
My first instinct is to pry his hands off, but then the pills would be within reach and he knows it. My lungs burn, and I kick wildly as I try to throw him off. I get weaker as my body begs for air.
“I’ve strangled people before,” he says with a disturbing note of enjoyment. “I know it doesn’t take long.”
I can’t reply. My vision is getting hazy.
“Fiona! Throw them over here!” Seth screams. Hope blossoms in me. I don’t know exactly where he is, but it sounds like he’s to my right. So I chuck the bottle as hard as I can.
The Phantom jumps up, his only focus the cure and the power that comes with it. I gasp for air, attempting to pull myself up to see what’s happening. It’s dark, but there’s enough light from the cars to see that Seth has the bottle and Bea and Brady stand in front of him as protection.
Mr. Mitchell has his gun trained on them, while the Phantom stands there huffing and puffing. Seth opens the bottle, pouring the pills into his hand. “Hell, I’ll swallow them all myself.”
My jaw drops, knowing just how painful that would be. Possibly painful enough to cause death.
“You’re bluffing,” his dad says.
“I will do it.” He looks at the pills. “There’s only five.”
“Seth! Don’t!” I pull myself up, but my legs are too shaky to run. “You could die!”