Cipher (26 page)

I forced myself to take calm, even footsteps that echoed in the suddenly quiet warehouse. Bodies dressed in black lay on the floor—either knocked out or dead. I wasn’t sure which. I barely spared them a glance.

Emma stood in front of me.

I closed my eyes and let out a breath. I could finally breathe again.

I stepped closer. The entire facility was only lit by gas lanterns, but even in the dull light, I knew it was her. Smart, but I’d taught my girl well if she was up and around.

As I stepped closer, the hairs on my arms lifted in alarm. Emma wobbled on her feet, and I closed the distance in a few steps. I wiped a thumb across her brow, and it came back pink.

There was blood in her sweat.

She grabbed my hand. “You’re bleeding? Where are you bleeding?” She started patting me down, until I grabbed her wrists.

I swallowed. “I’m not bleeding.”

“Don’t lie to me. You’re hurt.”

I sighed, not knowing what would upset her more—thinking the blood was mine or hers. But I had to tell her the truth. “The blood is yours.”

I watched the emotions cross her face. Shock. Disbelief. Fear. Finally, she ran a finger down her forearm, coating it in a fine layer of blood. She looked up at me. “I’m sweating blood.” She swallowed. “Well…that’s disgusting.”

I laughed and pressed my forehead to hers. “It’s so good to see you, princess. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared.” I picked her up before I said anything else, pulling her close to my body as I spoke into my com. “Dex. We’re heading to the med-v. We’re moving out. Now.” Seeing her, I was glad Sam had made me add the med-v to our convoy; the small RV was outfitted with a full suite of medical supplies.

Dex was already in the driver’s seat when we got there. “What the fuck happened to her?”

“I don’t know. Drive.” I carried her into the bathroom and set her on her feet. She wobbled a little bit. “You able to stand?”

“I think so.”

As soon as I let go, she started to crumple. I grabbed her before she could bang her head, keeping a firm grip on her shoulders.

“Maybe not so ready to stand on my own?”

I nodded, unable to say anything. The rage was there, boiling under the surface, but not at her. Never at her.

I flipped the toilet lid shut, and sat her down. I needed to relax. I closed my eyes for a second. “Are you really okay?” I asked.

She was quiet for a while, but I waited. I needed to know the truth.

“Not really, but I will be now that I’m with you.”

I squatted down in front of her. “Don’t do that again.”

“You’re mad.”

“Fuck yes, I’m mad. Not at you, but you scared the shit out of me. Next time, no splitting up. I can’t handle it.”

A tear rolled down her cheek, clearing away a line of red from her face. “It wasn’t easy for me either.”

I was being a dick again. “I know. I know.” I paused until she looked me in the eyes. “Don’t do that again. I don’t think I’d survive it.”

Her smile was a little watery. “Okay.”

“You’re stuck with me forever now. No running away without me. No turning yourself in to spare me. If you have a problem, we deal with it together.” I tugged at her feet, and pulled off her shoes.

When I started to lift up her shirt, she grabbed my hands, voice panicky. “What are you doing?”

“You’re covered in blood. I want to put you in bed, but you have to rinse off first.”

“But…”

“I’ve seen you in a bathing suit, and I won’t be taking advantage of you. Not right now. Trust me, okay?”

She looked at me with her big hazel-green eyes. “I trust you.”

“Thank you.” I knew how hard those words were for her. She let me finish stripping the blood-soaked clothes away. When I started pulling off my own clothes, Emma grabbed me again. “There isn’t room for two in there.”

“We’ll squeeze.” No way was I leaving her alone when she could barely stand.

“The water tank won’t be that big. We won’t have much time.”

“It’ll be enough.”

“But—”

“Emma. Stop.” I placed my finger across her lips. “We’re going to rinse you off. I’m going to tuck you into bed. And then I’m going to get us to someplace safe so I can make sure you’re okay. Please don’t argue.” I needed to take care of her. I had to know that she was okay.

“Okay.” She reached her arms up, and I pulled her to her feet.

The water wasn’t as warm as I would’ve liked, but we made do. She rested against the stall as I soaped us both up. In other circumstances, I would’ve enjoyed a co-shower, but with the water running down pink, all I felt was regret.

I grabbed two towels from the cabinet, and wrapped her up before sitting her back down on the toilet seat.

“There’s my girl.” I smiled down at her as I quickly toweled myself off. Most of the blue was gone from her hair, and I could see all of her freckles. She looked so little, all wet and huddled in the towel. I could finally see some of the Emma I used to know in her. “How are you feeling?”

She blushed. “Weak and woozy.”

My smile faded. How could I fix this?

“Sorry,” she said.

“You’re taking my line, princess.” I brushed her hair away from her face. “You did what you thought you had to do. Next time we’ll talk before you make a crazy decision.” I picked her up, easing her into my arms. “We’ll get you feeling better. I don’t know what they did to you—”

“It was some sort of injection—a bio agent that was supposed to figure out the limits of my conductivity.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” The long-term effects of whatever they’d injected her could be pretty bad. I’d seen stuff like that before. We needed to get her to the Lady and fast.

“Me neither. It hurt like a bitch. At least it did until they knocked me out.”

Dex was talking to someone on the com, but quieted as we exited the bathroom. I carried Emma back to her bedroom and tucked her into the bed. “I’ll contact the Lady, and see if she knows anything.” I kissed her forehead and turned to go.

She grabbed my hand. “Can you…”

“What?”

Her cheeks heated beautifully and she shook her head. “Never mind. It’s stupid.”

Suddenly all the panic, the fear, the weight in my chest was gone. If she wanted me, I was there.

I climbed into bed next to her, and pulled her close. “Come here.” She rested her head on my chest. “Sleep, princess,” I said as I ran my hands through her wet hair. The scent of her shampoo and the feel of her in my arms was like a balm. I could lay with her forever.

“Thanks.” Her breathing evened out after a few minutes, and I stayed there, motionless. I didn’t want to wake her, even if I had people to coordinate. Dex could handle it for a bit. All I could do was thank the gods that I had her. That she was safe and still alive.

I watched her sleep for a while. Her skin was clammy. When I brushed my fingertip down her face, it came back wet and pink.

She was still losing blood.

I swallowed. I didn’t think it was enough for her to need a transfusion. Not yet, but I went ahead and put her on a fluid drip. She was so exhausted she didn’t wake when I strapped the membrane patch around her arm. I got up, kissed her cheek, and tucked the covers around her.

The door closed with a soft click behind me. “She’s sleeping,” I said to the Dex. “I’m going to do some digging around. See if I can figure out what they put in her.”

“She looks like shit.”

“I know.”

“We need to get her checked out. By a real doctor.”

“I know.” What did he think? That I was purposefully keeping her from getting medical care?

“Those experiments go bad sometimes. Remember when we picked up Allison—”

“I fucking know.” The words were a whisper, but barely. Allison was a twelve-year-old Red we’d found a year ago. She’d been held in one of the labs for a week, but seemed okay. She’d been tired, but she’d been through an ordeal.

Then she took a nap and never woke up.

Fear clawed my insides. “That’s not going to happen with Emma. She’s strong.”

“Allison—”

“Shut up about Allison. She’s not fucking Allison, okay?”

Dex held up his hands. “Okay, man. Okay. She’s not Allison.”

I let out a shaky breath. “How are we doing?”

“Good. No one’s on our ass yet. That won’t last, but for now we’re fine. Air teams are keeping watch. Sam says nothing’s come up on the wire yet, so we’re solid.”

“You okay to keep driving?”

“Sure thing.”

“Great. Thanks.” I sat down at the nook in the kitchen and dug into my pack. I grabbed out my comp and hooked up one of the drives I’d taken from the facility.

Its security was total bullshit. Took me two seconds to break in, and then I found the research. I wasn’t fully getting all of it, but it looked like the doctor who’d examined Emma was trying to isolate Red Helix mutations. Nagi had been trying to make super soldiers for years but he didn’t have anything like the Reds. Only Lady Eva had been successful working with that kind of DNA, and even then, she could only stabilize it—not replicate it.

That was why she was the lead scientist, and Nagi had been in her shadow. Not many people knew he’d stolen her research and used it to his own profit. He’d tried to kill her off, but she was smart. Resourceful.

If one of Nagi’s doctors had somehow poisoned Emma, Lady Eva was the only one I trusted to fix it. The more I read the research, the more I didn’t like it.

I clicked on my com.

“Knight,” Sam’s voice came through. “Been waiting to hear from you.”

“Had to get her settled. We’re taking the scenic route back your way.” I paused. “And I’m sending you some files. Emma was pumped full of some drug that was supposed to isolate the Red mutation. She’s sweating blood.”

“Send me the data.”

I clicked a few buttons, logging into the Ravens’ network. “It’s up now.”

She was quiet for a few minutes. “You’re right. This looks bad. Hang on.”

I tapped my finger on the table as I waited.

“Knight,” Lady Eva said.

I sat up straight. Lady Eva had been busy the past week. If she was coming on screen, something wasn’t right. “Yes, ma’am.”

“You need to watch Emma closely. That drug is highly unstable and can undo what I did for her. Is she lucid?”

My heart sped up. “She’s sleeping now, but she was fine earlier. Should I wake her up?”

“No. It’s good that she’s sleeping. Get here fast.”

“But we’re probably going to catch a tail soon, it’s not—”

“I’m sounding a warning and we’ll be ready to move the compound if necessary. Don’t worry about the tail. Just stay close to Emma and monitor her. If her system is compromised, she may pull more electricity than you can handle.”

What was I supposed to do? Let her explode with power?

No. If it came to that, I’d take what I could. She’d stepped in for me, and I had no qualms about reciprocating.

“I’ll take care of her.”

“If she starts to lose control…” Lady Eva’s voice dropped, deadly serious. “We can’t have another New York.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let it come to that.”

“I’m serious, Knight. If the situation gets out of hand, I need to know that you’ll take care of it.”

Emma wasn’t a fucking situation. She was a person.

“I understand what you mean. I won’t let her get that far.”

“Fine. See you soon.” It was an order.

“Yes, ma’am.”

I clicked off the com. “Fuck.” Running my fingers through my hair, I stood to pace back and forth in the narrow galley.

“Everything okay?” Dex asked.

“No. It’s not fucking okay.”

The only question was what I could tell Emma. It didn’t take long to decide. She was already worried about containing her abilities. If I told her she was at risk, chances were she’d lose control faster.

“Well, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news,” Dex said.

Perfect. Like the day could get any worse. “Go ahead.”

“We’re being followed.”

That I could handle. I was trained for this. “How many? How far?”

“Three trucks and two choppers. We have our own choppers in the air flying low to stay under the radar, but they won’t be able to stay hidden long. We need to decide what to do, and soon.”

That’s the question.
Do we make a stand? Or keep running?

We were going to have to confront Jack and his goons at some point. The real question was, could we lose them fast enough to make it to Lady Eva’s before Emma lost control?

“Call in some reinforcements. Let’s see if we can switch vehicles and shake our tail. We need to get Emma to the Lady as soon as possible.”

“What did the Lady say?”

I ignored the question I couldn’t answer. Instead, I walked back to the bedroom. “I’ll be with her. Update me when we’re ready to switch.”

“You got it.”

Emma was still sound asleep. Plus, she was glowing, and not in a figurative way. Like she was being lit from inside. I slid into bed next to her. As soon as my hand touched her face, my teeth started tingling. I breathed through the jolt as she sighed and rolled into me. “Rest, princess,” I said as I kissed her forehead. My only hope was that the drug would wear off, and she’d find balance again.

Until then, I’d stick by her. There was no way I’d hurt Emma if she got into a ‘situation.’ That wasn’t happening. Ever.

The stream of electricity running into me was low, but steady. I could take this all week. Sure, I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but that wasn’t any different than normal.

Emma was mine, and I wasn’t ever letting her go again.

***

A few hours later, I felt the med-v slow. A soft knock sounded before Dex stuck his head in the room. He must’ve switched the drive controls over to auto.

“We’re ready.”

“Good.”

I slid out from under Emma, and the second I wasn’t touching her, her skin lit up.

“Holy shit. What’s going on?”

“Later.” I lifted the IV bag off its stand, and Emma finally stirred when I scooped her into my arms.

“What’s happening?” She mumbled.

“We’re changing vehicles.”

“I can walk,” Emma said, but I tightened my arms as I cradled her.

“It’s fine. I got you. We’re going to a different med-v. There are a few more. Each one is going to break off in a different direction. We’re hoping to lose your uncle in the mix up.”