Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01) (23 page)

I mean, I was glad I’d made friends. It definitely made things better around here. But I still didn’t want to be anyone’s role model. That was just…insane. It was me, for crying out loud. I had issues. Lots and lots of issues.

“I can’t be,” I argued. “That’s just…no. Role models have to do stuff. Like socialize. I don’t socialize. I’m a hermit. Hermits aren’t role models. It’s a rule somewhere, I know it is.”

“I think it’s pretty cool,” she said.

“Then you be the role model,” I mumbled. I glanced down at my plate. I hadn’t even touched the pizza I’d gotten.

“Hey, I would if I could.”

I looked up, grinned. “Maybe I can start a fight with you for no reason and then you can kick my ass.”

Her eyebrow raised and she tapped her chin. “Has potential. We’ll talk about it for P2.” She winked at me.

Shaking my head, I glanced up at the clock. “I should go and study for…some test I don’t know when is.”

Tasha nodded. “They should just tell us and put us out of our misery. But I’ll catch ya later.”

I waved, then got up and dumped my tray with only a minimal amount of guilt over the wasted pizza. Linc would probably maim me if he found out.

As I headed out of the café and started for my room, I spotted a group of people standing around the elevators. There was a faint pounding sound and muffled voices coming from inside.

Maybe one of them is Felecia,
I thought hopefully.

I could have taken the other elevator, but I didn’t want to risk it, so I took the stairs instead as I made my way to my room. Just as I neared the top landing of the fourth floor, I heard voices and stopped. Immediately, I recognized one of the voices as Director Greene’s. A few seconds later, I recognized the other voice and barely contained a groan. Felecia.

So much for my wishful thinking.

I started to move back down the stairs. I barely made it two steps before I heard my name and stopped cold. Frowning, I listened closely, thinking that maybe I’d misunderstood. But I hadn’t. Greene said my name again.

I crept closer, then peeked around the corner. He and Felecia were standing right outside my door.

“Do you understand, Miss Fitzgerald?” Greene asked her, wearing an angry expression I hadn’t seen before—not even when he’d found me in the South Tower after the demon escape.

Felecia nodded. “I do.”

“I want Miss Hall contained.”

C
HAPTER 13

Turning away, I flattened my back against the wall. My heart started to pound and my breath quickened. I had to force myself to stay calm, because I was afraid I’d hyperventilate.

What I had done to make Greene want me ‘contained’? Had he changed his mind about letting me stay? Had I failed that badly? A million other thoughts and questions entered my mind at once but I couldn’t concentrate on any of them.

A part of me wanted to step forward, to turn myself in, and find out what the hell was going on. But instinct had me staying put and moving only to position myself so I could hear them more clearly without being seen.

“She stole some research,” he went on, “and cannot be allowed to leave the premises.”

A malicious smile crossed Felecia’s face as she nodded. “I’ll find her and make sure she doesn’t get out.”

“I don’t want her harmed, Miss Fitzgerald. I need to get the information back. She’s undoubtedly hidden it by now.”

My eyes went wide. I hadn’t stolen a thing from this place! The only research I had was my own and he couldn’t mean that. Could he? I’d read the rules, and while sharing the information with outside people was a big no-no, they said nothing about taking notes. Wasn’t I here to learn about demons?

Keeping my back against the wall, I inched away from the corner, away from the voices.
So much for being safe here.
I grabbed the railing and tiptoed back down the stairs until I was halfway to the next floor. After that, I took them two at a time. By the time my feet touched the second floor landing, I was running. I rounded the corner and Linc appeared. I was going too fast to stop, so I ended up running straight into a wall to avoid him. I bounced off and hit the ground hard. A second later, I was back on my feet, taking only half a second to rub my back.

Linc grabbed my arm before I managed to make it two steps. “What the hell is going on?” he asked me in a hushed whisper.

I glanced up the stairs. There was no one there, but that didn’t mean they weren’t close. “I don’t have time to talk, Linc,” I hissed and brushed past him.

“Jade.” He grabbed me again. “What did you do?”

“Why do you assume I did anything!” I winced at my rising tone and forced myself to take another breath. “I didn’t
do
anything.”

“Everyone’s looking for you—agents, and even some P2s.”

“What? Why the Prospects?” That made no sense. If Greene really thought I’d stolen something, and he was that concerned I’d escape with it, why send untrained Prospects after me?

Linc shrugged. “Maybe for the same reason he sends them to Doc? He thinks it’ll be easier.”

Well, whatever. I hadn’t done anything, and not only did I have to hide from Felecia, now I had to avoid agents
and
other Prospects.

I would have banged my head on the wall, but that would’ve brought me unwanted attention. “Someone’s setting me up,” I said, managing to keep my tone level and low this time. “I just heard Greene sicing Felecia on me, claiming I stole some research or something.” How could I steal something I didn’t even know where was? The South Tower was the likeliest place, since that’s where Greene said they kept the research, but there were over a hundred rooms there, if not more. I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for anything. And after the whole demon-escape thing, I wasn’t in any hurry to go snooping. Greene had to know that.

Linc nodded, as if that made any kind of sense. “That would do it.”

“Do what? I didn’t steal anything!”

“Someone thinks you did. Greene obviously believes it.”

I could have strangled him. “Yes, Lincoln,” I said through clenched teeth, speaking slowly, “I kind of figured that part out on my own.” I covered my face with my hands, shook my head. “I’m leaving. Now.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere that isn’t here, obviously,” I snapped as I started back down the stairs.

“Jade, wait.” He reached me again and stood in front of me, blocking my path. I didn’t want to fight him, but if it came down to him or me, I was picking me. “You can’t just go out the front doors of this place without some help.”

“And? Are you volunteering?” I snorted. Did he think I was that stupid? That was the oldest trick in the book. Yeah, he would help alright—by leading me straight to Greene. He knew what was going on, so Greene or someone else had probably told him to stop me. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

Something in my expression must have given me away because he said, “Jade, I want to help you. I don’t think you stole anything. You’ve been locked in your room for the last two months studying, and when you weren’t doing that, you were with me.”

It was plausible enough. Mostly. But did I trust him?

Did I have a choice?

The sound of approaching footsteps said I didn’t, at least none that I liked. “Fine.”

“Let’s go.” He latched onto my arm and started dragging me down the stairs.

Two agents and one Prospect were waiting for us near the bottom. Without hesitation, Linc kicked the nearest agent in the stomach and sent him crashing into the man behind him.

The Prospect—a P2 guy with longish blond hair—ran at me and wrapped his hand around my bicep. I pulled my other arm back to punch him in the face, but then I hesitated. I didn’t want to hurt the guy. It wasn’t Blondie’s fault someone had set me up.

He hit me in the stomach when I lowered my arm. My eyes narrowed. Well, if they weren’t going to worry about hurting me, then I wasn’t going to worry about hurting them. “That was rude. Jerk.” He looked ready to hit me again, so I reached out and gave a semi-hard tug on a handful of hair.

His jaw dropped down. He somehow looked mutinous and surprised, like he was unsure of what to do now. He blinked at me.

I sighed, then jabbed him in the jaw.

The hit itself probably wouldn’t have been that bad, but Linc had punched one of his guys at the same time. That guy spun around and his elbow collided with the other side of Blondie’s jaw. They both ended up tumbling down the last few steps and landing on each other.

Linc took off running. “Come on!”

I leapt over the pile of guys and followed. He headed straight to the café. “Shouldn’t we be trying to get out?” I whispered behind him.

“That’s what everyone’s expecting you to do, to try to get out. If we hide in here for a few minutes, maybe they’ll think you already got out of the North Tower and focus more on the outside. And when they don’t find you, they’ll start back in here, floor by floor. By then, we
will
be outside.”

“Alright.” I couldn’t argue with his logic. “What’s the plan?”

“We hide out in the café and then try to go out through the infirmary’s side exit—where the ambulances bring people in.”

I wasn’t all that sure of his plan, but since I didn’t really have one, it had to be twice as good.

When we got to the café, he pulled me down behind a table near the side exit. Without taking his eyes off the front, he said, “There are too many people looking for you right now. If we can get some of them to follow us and start taking them out one by one, we’ll have a better chance.” A second later, he ducked down, crawled to the table behind us, then quietly took the tray from the top.

“What are you going to do? Feed them?”

He gave me a get-serious look as he crawled back. “You’ll see.” He set the tray between us and waited.

A minute passed, and then another, before we heard agents talking right outside. I saw one creep by the entrance. He was dressed in all black. I didn’t see a gun—which I took as a good sign—but he had other weapons.
Well, hopefully none as permanent as a gun.

“Ready?” Linc said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“For?”

He rolled his eyes and didn’t bother with a response. He picked up the packaged sandwich from the tray, waited two seconds, and then sent it hurtling across the room toward the serving area. Metal clanged and something rolled as it hit the ground.

The agents at the door whirled toward the sound. The one in the lead made a motion with his hands and the others moved in closer to inspect.

Moving slowly, Linc grabbed my arm and pulled me as he went around the table. As the agents went behind the serving area, Linc pulled me through the side exit. My feet skidded under me as he took off running before I’d managed to get completely upright. “I can’t believe that worked—”

My heart plummeted as four agents stepped out in front of us.

Linc and I both came to a stop. His head turned slightly as he looked at me and grinned. “Guess it’s time to really see what you’re made of, Hall,” he said and charged the men in front of us.

One moved around me and snaked his arms around my waist. I tried wiggling free but his grip was too tight. Another guy ran at me, this one with restraints in his hands. “Oh no, you don’t,” I said and kicked out, catching him in the stomach with both feet. He flew back and fell.

The guy still holding me didn’t lose his grip, even though we’d both been shoved back into the wall from the force of the kick. Glaring, I reached over my shoulders, wrapped my arms around the guy’s neck, and then bent over and yanked. With a muffled curse, the man flipped over me, landing hard on his back. I kicked him in the side for good measure, then jumped over him to help Linc with the others.

The guy I’d kicked in the stomach was back on his feet and sneaking up behind Linc, so I went for him first. I plowed my fist into the back of his head hard enough to sting my knuckles. He crumpled to the ground.

I stole a quick glance at Linc. He was still busy with one of the other guys. I winced as the agent got a shot in to Linc’s face.

When I moved in to help, an agent blocked my path—the one I’d flipped over me. I shuffled left, then right, trying to find a way around him. I feinted to one direction but went the other way. The agent grabbed me before I made it past him and brought his knee up into my stomach.

My feet left the ground and the breath rushed from my lungs for the second time in a matter of minutes. I backed up, clutching my stomach and narrowing my eyes into thin slits. I shook my head. “You shouldn’t have done that,” I said with a snarl.

The man in front of me just smiled and began to circle me. I brought my fists up and kept my distance. As he started in, Linc kicked the agent’s feet out from beneath him. I dropped my hands to my side and stormed forward, stepping on, and then over, the fallen agent. “Hey! I had him!” And to prove it, I kicked him when he started to move.

Linc shrugged. “You can have the next one.”

“Okay. Now let’s just get out of here.”

He nodded and took off again, going down a hallway behind the café. It was a straight shot between here and the infirmary, but most people didn’t use it. Unless you were going from one place to the other, it just took you out of your way.