Good Intentions - Adrian Hell #6 (Adrian Hell Series) (29 page)

She lets out a low grunt of effort as she pushes Lily’s body up. She guides it back onto the rear seat, and uses the edge of my seat to heave herself up. I hear the unceremonious thud as the body lands hard against the rear door, level with me on the other side of the seat, out of sight.

I’m sorry, Lily. You deserved better than this.

Kaitlyn shifts awkwardly, trying to move her legs behind her so she’s essentially standing over me. I move my right arm up and rest it over my face to free up some space at the side of me so she can—

Ah!

She just stood on my chest…

She looks down and sucks air apologetically through her teeth. “Sorry!”

I shake my head. “It’s fine, just… get us outta here.”

She leans to the right and rests both hands on the windshield. She pushes a couple of times and I hear a creak as the entire pane of glass opens out like a door.

Huh… that was easier than I thought it would be.

Not that I’m complaining!

She looks down and carefully steps around me, then ducks as she shuffles herself out and onto the road. Once she’s clear, I push against the seat, first with my hand, and then with my legs, sliding out on my back and shimmying along on my elbows as quickly as I can.

I… hate… only… having… one… hand…

My body’s clear. I feel Kaitlyn tuck her hands under my arms and drag me out the rest of the way. The second my feet are clear, I’m on them. I grab her hand and we run.

What the…?

My face feels very warm and wet.

Oh, shit…

Head wound.

Fuck it, I’ll bleed later.

We keep moving. There’s a barrier running along the outside of the road. We climb over it and set off as fast as we can across the sun-scorched wasteland that sits between the expressway and the large construction site, which is maybe five hundred yards ahead of us.

I’m counting in my head how long we’ve been sprinting. Five seconds… ten…

An explosion erupts behind us, and we both drop to a crouch as a wave of heat rushes over us. We glance over our shoulders and see what’s left of the Range Rover’s metal frame engulfed in a hungry fire, blackened and torn from the initial blast. One of the wheels lands a few feet to my right and rolls for a moment before falling on its side.

Fuck, that was close!

The smoke is thick and dark, and the slight breeze is blowing it left, which is good—it’ll obscure Pierce’s view if he’s kept his distance, at least for a minute or so. Every second counts right now.

I look across at Kaitlyn. “You okay?”

Her eyes are wide, staring with horrified disbelief at the burning wreck we were trapped in less than thirty seconds ago. She doesn’t answer me.

I reach for her arm again. “Okay, I’ll take that as a yes. Look, we gotta move, but I need you to check my head first. I think I took a blow to it in the crash, and I’m a little spaced out. Kaitlyn? Kaitlyn, are you with me?”

She doesn’t react for a few moments, then she frowns. “What do you mean you’re a little…?” She turns to look at me and her eyes go wide again. “Oh my God!”

“What? Is it bad?”

“
Is it bad
? Adrian, it’s like you’re wearing a red mask! Let me look at you.”

She kneels up beside me and sits back on her legs, renewed focus and concern etched on her face. She puts her hands on either side of my head, forcing me to look down. I hear a gasp.

I roll my eyes. “What?”

“Uh… you’ve got a nasty-looking cut on your head.”

“Define
nasty
…”

“Well, it’s about two inches long, running down the center of your head. It’s pretty deep. You’ll need stitches. We should get you to a hospital.”

I shake my head, and a few drops of blood splash on her top. She glances down, then at me. I shrug. “Sorry. But no… no more hospitals. We deal with Pierce, and then we get to your neighbor to see if he can disable this thing in my neck. That’s got to be our priority. Especially now Lily’s…”

I let my words trail off. I’m not saying it out loud. If I do, it means I’m acknowledging it’s happened, and I’m not ready for that. Not yet. Before I start with all that, I have more important things to sort.

I put my left hand under my T-shirt and use it to wipe the blood from my face. I look down at it.

Man, that’s a
lot
of red…

I go to stand. I push myself vertical with one hand. I’m a little light-headed actually…

Whoa!

Kaitlyn jumps to her feet and puts a hand on my shoulder, propping me upright. “You’re losing a lot of blood, which is bad when you only woke up from surgery a couple hours ago. You’re far from a hundred percent, Adrian. Plus, you only have one useful hand… This isn’t a fight you’re going to win. We need to get out of here, get you patched up, and then,
maybe
, we think about this psychotic gang of hitmen you work for.”

I don’t know if this is the blood loss talking, but she’s making sense. Damn it. I hate it when people who aren’t me make a good point.

I let out a tired sigh. “Fine. Come on.”

We hadn’t gotten very far when the car blew up. We set off jogging again, with Kaitlyn leading me by the hand. After a minute or so, we’re well over halfway there. I risk a glance back at the road. No one’s following us, but the Suburbans have split up. Two have carried on along the slip road where we crashed, which will bring them through the security gates and into the construction site ahead. The other three have gone back the other way. They’re probably heading for the airport, thinking that’s where we’re trying to reach. They’ll want to be prepared for when we get there.

Well, I can’t go to the airport looking like this, so that’s irrelevant. The immediate problem is what’s waiting in front of us.

We reach the fence. It’s chain link, maybe ten feet high, with the last foot being four strips of barbed wire running horizontally along it.

I look at Kaitlyn. “You first.”

She shakes her head. “Adrian, I… I… I can’t climb it. I’m useless with heights. I—”

I shrug. “Me too.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“No, I really do hate heights. But this is about ten feet, if that.”

“Adrian, this is
really
high… And I was never any good at climbing as a kid…”

She’s scared, I get it. I’m trying to be sympathetic and understanding and patient, et cetera. But we don’t have time.

I let out a long, painful breath. “Look, about a month ago, I was pushed out of an airplane twenty thousand feet over Vietnam. I woke up in the back of it, already in the air. Two guys literally fastened a ’chute to me, opened the door, and threw me out.
That
I have a problem with.
That
was a height and a situation worth worrying about.
This
… really isn’t.”

She stares into my eyes for a long moment, reading me. I can see it in her expression, searching me for any hint that I’m bullshitting her. We all know she won’t find one.

“Are you… being serious?”

I nod. “That was The Order’s initiation, I guess.”

“And them throwing you from a plane didn’t make you think that maybe they’re not the kind of people you want to get involved with?”

I shrug. “It’s not like I had much choice. At that stage, they had just rescued me from my own execution. I figured I owed it to them to jump through a few hoops.”

“Adrian, has anyone ever told you that your life just… sucks?”

I smile. “Is that your professional opinion?”

“That’s my personal opinion. We don’t have time for my professional one.”

“Fair enough. Now get your ass over the fence. Please.”

She huffs at me and grabs hold of it. She finds her footing and slowly starts to climb. I can hear her grunting from the exertion.

“You’re doing great, Kaitlyn. Aim for the thick metal pole that separates each section of fence, okay? When you reach it, put one hand on it to brace yourself, and one foot on the top, underneath the bottom line of barbed wire.”

She glances down, which I can tell from her expression that she instantly regretted. “And then what?”

“Then you push with your hand and foot, swing your body out slightly, then vault over the top and drop down the other side.”

“
What!
”

“Land in a crouch and let yourself roll naturally to the side. You’ll be fine.”

“You couldn’t have mentioned that was the plan
before
I started climbing?”

I’m having to squint as I look up at her, because the sun’s shining right in my eyes. I shrug. “What difference would it have made? You’d still have to do it.”

She huffs again. “I hate you…”

I nod. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

She reaches the top and, to her credit, does exactly what I said. She lands a little awkwardly on the other side and sits in the dust and sand for a moment to compose herself. I wave at her through the fence. She gives me the finger.

I smile and grab the fence with my hand. I place one foot on it and…

Shit.

I only have one good hand.

I can’t climb up like this.

Shit!

“What’s the problem?” she asks.

I shake my head. “I can’t scale the fence with my arm in a cast.”

She sighs loudly. “And you didn’t think about this beforehand?”

“Nope.”

“So, now what?”

“I’m thinking…”

I walk along the length of the fence, searching for anything that might help, but I don’t really know what I’m looking for. I guess I’ll know it when I see it, but…

Hang on.

I crouch maybe a hundred yards from where Kaitlyn is. The section of fencing is slightly curled toward me in one corner. I slide the fingers of my left hand through the links and get a firm grip. I plant my feet as best I can in the dust, and I pull hard on it.

The fence moves a little, coming away from the post just a fraction.

The whole thing was most likely erected hurriedly when they first started building here. Each section of fencing is attached to the posts separately by cable ties. Where I’m pulling, it’s come free near the bottom. The pole is a little unstable, and the ties themselves look pretty weak.

I think with enough force, I might be able to…

I give it another strong pull, shuffling to my right and teasing it back a tiny bit at a time. I stop after a couple of minutes. The metal has left deep, red imprints in my palm. I flex it to get the blood flowing again.

I wish I could do this with both hands…

I’ve managed to make a decent-sized gap near the ground, but I don’t think it’s enough for me to fit through.

Kaitlyn walks over and stares at the fence. “I can’t believe you made me climb over the damn thing when we could’ve just done this… Unbelievable.”

I smile. “Let’s not dwell on the past, eh? Give me a hand with it, would you? I need you to push as I pull.”

“Whatever…” she mutters, not quite under her breath.

She crouches opposite me and grips the fence with both hands. I grab it again with my left.

“Okay, on three, you push, I’ll pull… Ready?”

She nods.

“Go.”

We manage to make a gap twice the size of the one I made on my own, which is perfect for me to fit through. She holds it up as much as she can, and I crouch as low as my legs will allow. I scuttle through the gap and get to my feet, standing beside her as I brush the dust off my shorts.

Kaitlyn looks at me. “I hate you.”

I smile. “I can live with that.”

We turn and look over at the site before us. This must be the planned extension to the airport they’ve been talking about. It seems to be split into three distinct parts. An assortment of construction vehicles are parked together over on the left, with some portable offices stacked two high next to them. Behind them, stretching almost the entire width of the site, is the half-built skeletal structure of what I imagine will one day be a seriously big building. Huge concrete blocks, laying both vertically and horizontally, form the meat, with wide metal girders and cabling acting as the bones. I read somewhere not so long ago that this was going to be a new terminal for the airport. It’s been in the pipeline for a couple of years. Some people were against the idea initially, but in the current climate, I think the fact it’s created so many jobs has made people embrace it.

We set off walking toward the new building. The crunch of our footsteps on the gravel echoes around the deserted site. The next work shift won’t start for a couple of hours, so we’re alone here for now.

Kaitlyn turns to me. “We can search these cabins for a first aid kit. It might be worth regrouping here for a short while, see if we can patch you up a little.”

I nod. “Yeah, that’s—”

I hear more crunching away to the left. Tires, this time. I look over, beyond the parked vehicles, away to the left of the site. I can see two Suburbans speeding through the entrance. They disappear out of sight, rounding a bend that will lead them to the far side of the new building.

“Shit.”

24

14:04
AST

I point to the office cabins, which are less than fifty yards away. “Come on. Stay low and quiet.”

There are four of them in total, positioned in a tight U-shape. Two are sitting roughly side by side in front of us, with one jutting out at either end. They’re dark blue and covered in dust and dirt. A metal staircase has been fitted to the end of each one, running up to the second door above. We move along the front of the one on the right until we reach the door. I try the handle.

Locked.

“Damn it.”

I take a couple steps back and then kick out, pushing my right leg forward as hard and fast as I can. My foot connects with the door just below the handle. The thin wood splinters and cracks, and the door flies open. It bangs against something behind it. I gesture Kaitlyn inside. She doesn’t hesitate, and I follow her in and push the door closed again behind me.

Oh my God, it’s hot in here! It’s like I’ve just stepped inside the sun!