“We left Patty.” Gillian’s tone was accusatory. Blaming him? He deserved it. “They got Patty. Adam, Patty’s dead.”
Adam felt a wrenching snap of a heartstring, the one that tethered him to Aunt Pat, and through her to his parents, his childhood, all the what-might-have-beens. But he couldn’t think of Pat now. That would be another mistake. He’d remember her later, if there were a later.
He switched the handset for a mobile earplug.
“And Talia?” His voice rasped as he hit the rifle safe attached to the wall behind him. He selected the AR-15 rifle with the drum magazine, put the strap over his shoulder, and a Glock, which he kept in his hand, ready. He grabbed extra magazines and carriers and attached them to his belt.
“Talia’s fine.” The accusatory tone again. “She’s driving.”
He glanced at the external Segue vid feeds. Rolling lawn. Trees. Narrow road leading into town. Nothing yet.
“How long until you’re here?” At least they had the Ferrari and its eight-cylinder engine, if Talia could keep the car on the road.
“I don’t know. We just passed the boulders.”
The boulders were massive distinctive crags that marked the crest of the mountain pass on the road to Segue just before the trees closed in. Ten minutes. Less, in that car.
“Direct Talia to the rear entrance. When you reach the building, be prepared to run inside. Seat belts already off. You understand?” Adam peeled out his door and ran down the deserted corridor to the back stairs. No elevators during lockdown.
“Oh, shit,” Gillian breathed in his ear.
“What now?” Keep it calm, he reminded himself.
“Helicopter.”
“Helicopter chasing you?” A cold finger of horror slid down Adam’s spine. Had to be a coordinated strike. It’d been six days since Talia arrived, and The Collective had used the week to formulate an extraction strategy. He thought she’d be safe here. That they’d all be safe here. Aunt Pat…He’d promised them all safety.
“No. It’s ahead of us, turning around. We’re going to die.”
“Calm down, Gillian. I’ll get you through this”—another false promise?—“but only if you can stay calm. Is Talia okay? Is she freaking out?”
“No. Talia is fucking ice. She left Patty—Patty!—back there with those monsters.”
So that was it. Patty was gone, but trust Talia to know when to get to safety. She’d had enough practice at it. Even beaten down, the woman was a survivor.
As planned in the event of a wraith incursion, Adam found Custo in front of the door to the stairwell, similarly armed with a semiautomatic shotgun, punching in the master override that barred the staircase.
“Keep your head, Gillian,” Adam commanded. “Follow my instructions. I’ll be waiting for you. Stay on the line.”
Custo pounded up the stairs, Adam behind him with the update. “Gillian, Talia, and Pat went into Middleton this morning. Gillian called in three minutes ago that she and Talia were being chased back to Segue by wraiths. Helicopter also in pursuit. Wraiths got Pat—”
Custo turned abruptly to look at Adam, his expression a mask of disbelief and pain.
Adam had no time for that. “Has Spencer checked in?”
“Not yet.” Custo coded out the exit and pushed open the heavy steel door.
Adam ducked his head out. The telltale whirring chop of a helicopter cut the sky above Segue. He craned to get a better look. It was a combat helicopter, slim, mottled greengray, and already lowering to drop a load of men on the west lawn. A spark of reflected light drew Adam’s eyes to the trees. Someone moving in there, too. Along the road.
Blocking the road. Penning Segue in.
“Slow down, Talia!” Gillian screamed into Adam’s ear. “You’re going to hit them!”
“Hit them!” Adam shouted into the mouthpiece. He didn’t care who, as long as Talia and Gillian got back to Segue.
The din of the helicopter drowned out the voices in Adam’s ear.
“Repeat,” he yelled into the phone.
The Ferrari careened out of the trees, a vivid streak of crimson against dense green. The windshield was cracked in webbed impact lines. A man gripped the hood. His body swayed and dangled as he held on to the car with his fingers. Heroes might do that in movies, but in the real world, only a wraith would have the necessary strength.
“To the building! The rear doors!” Gillian yelled in Adam’s ear. He could just make out the silhouettes of the women in the front seats of the car.
Custo crouched on the landing beside him. “I can take the wraith on the hood.”
“Let them get closer. Besides, we’ve got company from the west.”
Custo pivoted suddenly and shot at an oblique angle toward the west corner of the building. Warning shots with a loud report to keep the helicopter’s foot soldiers at bay.
Something about the way the men moved bothered Adam. They humped across the grass in camouflage green, armored, signaling with sharp, spare gestures. They were human. What was a human military force doing striking against Segue? There must be a terrible mistake.
“Where the hell is Spencer?” Custo growled, sighting down the barrel of his gun.
Good question. Spencer better damn well be figuring out why the army had decided to attack a civilian research facility. Someone was going to answer for this, that was for damn sure.
Pressure mounted in Adam’s chest as the car neared. “Right up to the door,” Adam commanded Gillian.
“They’ll shoot us!”
“If they haven’t shot at the car by now, they’re not going to. Tell Talia to pull up to the entrance. Both of you get out of the car on the right side. Do not hesitate.”
Adam raised his own gun, finger light on the trigger.
The red sports car skimmed the earth like fire on a wick, taking the turn to Segue with controlled precision. Talia, accustomed to deep terror, obviously knew that survival depended on clear thinking and decisive action. She was steady—and that’s all Adam needed.
A large SUV, lumbering in comparison, cleared the tree line in pursuit, but too far back to be an immediate threat.
As the Ferrari approached the back lot, Adam aimed at the wraith gripping the hood and fired.
“What are you doing? You’re going to kill us!” Gillian shrieked into the phone. Adam could now see her mouth the words he heard in his earpiece. Talia’s face was white, eyes fixed unblinking on the building. Keep it steady, sweetheart.
Adam fired again. He zeroed in on the wraith’s head, bobbing at the base of the windshield, and shot.
The wraith jerked and slid down the hood. Its legs caught under the sports car’s road grip, and the wheels churned the monster behind the vehicle. The body bounced once, and then lay broken on the pavement.
The car veered briefly, recovering from the sudden lurch under the carriage, and then sped to the door.
Talia overshot the entrance. Gillian had her door open and was flinging herself toward Adam before the vehicle came to a stop. The tires left black trails on a sickening collision course with the building. Adam caught Gillian’s arms and pulled her to safety as Custo at his low left discharged another volley. Talia clambered out next, sneakers, then jean-clad legs, emerging in a clumsy climb over the interior leather and out the passenger door.
Adam’s heart stopped beating as the rest of Talia’s body emerged, white-blonde hair shining and waving like a here-I-am flag in the wind kicked up by the idling helicopter overhead.
He grabbed her arm and yanked her into the hollow he made of his body to shelter her, and together dived for the door. They fell on the floor inside, and he hit his head on the wall with a crack he heard but didn’t feel. Custo backed in behind them, gun raised, and shut and secured the door.