Apocalyptic Visions Super Boxset (122 page)

“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” the man asked and picked her up by her hair with his good arm and dragged her back over to where Becca and the kids were still tied up. She flopped on the ground at their feet. A lump of something hit her stomach before she fell, and she tried reaching underneath to feel what it was, but her body was so numb that the object underneath was foreign. She lifted her head to look up at Becca, whose mouth quivered as tears streamed down her face. Ella and Matt had the same look, and she tried to force a smile, but with her face numb, she wasn’t sure if she managed to make one.

A loud crack sounded as the man slammed his shoulder back into place, and Sarah felt the vibrations from his steps ripple through the floor. He gripped the back of her head and forced her to look Becca in the eye. “Your husband squealed more than this bitch. I have to admit that I’m impressed.” He slammed her face back into the ground, and the pain that flooded her mind disoriented her past the point of comprehension. When she looked up and saw that Becca had a knife to the side of her neck, she tried to remember how she had gotten here, why Becca and the kids were in the middle of one of her missions. They should be with Ben at home, not here. Not in this place. It wasn’t safe.

But slowly, everything came back, and she remembered why as she started to comprehend the man’s words. “You couldn’t save your brother. Your parents are dead, and now I’m going to slaughter the rest of your family in front of you. You lost, Agent Hill.”

Sarah’s fingers continued to fumble over the object underneath her stomach until her right index finger felt the smooth, thin piece of metal. “You know your problem?” Sarah asked, flecks of blood flying out of her mouth as she spoke. “It’s the same one that keeps popping up on my performance reviews.”

“And what’s that? Letting your family die?”

“No,” Sarah answered. “You talk too much.” Her fingers gripped the handle and, in a motion faster than the blink of an eye, she aimed the barrel of the 1911 and emptied the clip into the man’s chest, sending him backward and onto the floor in a massive heap of meat.

The pistol smacked against the floorboard when Sarah released her grip, and she rolled to her back, finally feeling the pain from all her wounds set in. Between the ringing in her ears and the pounding in her head, she couldn’t make out Becca screaming her name. She finally managed to stagger to her feet and crawl over to Becca to untie her restraints.

It was all the energy Sarah could muster to let Becca out, and once she was free, she untied Ella and Matt while Sarah collapsed on her back again. She felt like she was sinking into the floor, an elephant sitting on her chest. She felt like she was never going to get up until she felt a hand on her shoulder and the lightest touch on her face. When Sarah opened her eyes, Becca’s blurred figure stared back at her.

“Sarah? Oh my god. Sarah, can you hear me?”

Even through Sarah’s blurred vision and swollen eyes, she could see the distress in Becca’s face, the wrinkled lines in her forehead, the redness of her eyes, the downturned smile of grief. She’d seen that face before, but she never thought it would be for her. “Are Ella and Matt okay?”

“I put them in the other room. They’re fine. What do I need to do? Do I need to call the cops? That number your people gave me? You need a doctor.”

Sarah fumbled at one of the compartments around her belt and pulled out a small pill. “Water. I need some water.”

Becca nodded frantically then rushed away and returned with a glass of water, spilling its contents over the side. Sarah popped the pill into her mouth and washed it down. She drank thirstily, draining the entire cup as some of the liquid spilled out from the corners of her mouth. She set the cup down and closed her eyes, breathing slowly through her nose, which was broken, then out through her mouth. She waited for the pill to take effect, restoring some of the faculty of her body and mind. When the clarity kicked in, she managed to push herself off the ground. Her fingers found her nose and, with a quick jerk, pushed it back into place. The crack made Becca wince, and Sarah let out a loud gasp then breathed deeply through her nostrils. “Whew. That’s better.”

Before Sarah had a chance to say anything else, Becca threw her arms around her, her embrace bringing with it the sensation of the bruises and cuts along her body, but the fact that Becca was actually happy to see her alive outweighed the pain. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Sarah felt Becca’s body shake with her sobs. She pulled Becca’s face back and smiled. But before either of them could say a word, tires screeched out front. Sarah pushed herself to her feet and checked the front window to see a cluster of agents rush the front lawn. Sarah grabbed Becca by the shoulders. “I’m going to come back for you. Whatever happens, do not tell them what happened. Demand to speak with a lawyer. They won’t hurt the kids. Trust me. No matter what they tell you, do not say anything.”

“Where are you going?”

“The people that killed Ben, some of them are still out there. I have to find them. I have to finish this.”

Ella and Matt watched Sarah from a distance, and when she reached out her hand to touch Ella, the girl recoiled, hiding behind the chair with her brother. Sarah simply nodded her head. It was too soon. The kids had seen too much. They would understand. But not until later.

The agents surrounded the house, and Sarah ascended the steps to the second floor. When she made it to the top, the front door burst down, and she was back out the window through which she’d entered, hobbling over the rooftops as fast as she could until she made it to the other side of the neighbor’s house. She kept to the backyards, ducking behind fences and cars when she needed to but always moving forward.

Even though the other board members were still alive, she no longer had the time to track them down. Demps would keep sending men to try and kill her family. He had to go, and the last piece of her puzzle to find him was in Milwaukee. That was all she needed. Once he was dead, it would be done. She repeated that to herself like a prayer, but the longer she walked, the more she said the words, the more she felt herself hollow from the inside out.

***

Mack sat behind his desk, his leg bouncing up and down in a blur. He kept his eyes glued to the elevator entrance, the rest of his body frozen. Every now and again he would look to Bryce, whose face was glued to the same spot. He wasn’t sure how it was going to end, but he couldn’t allow Sarah to keep killing witnesses in connection with the world’s worst terrorist attack and the biggest security leak in GSF’s history.

The elevator doors opened, and Sarah stepped off, her jacket and pants caked with red patches, her face beaten, worn, and dirty, dark circles under her eyes. Every pair of pupils watched her, but every bit of concentration on her face was focused on getting to Branston in the holding unit, which Mack had locked down, not letting anyone enter. He didn’t bother calling out to her; he knew she wouldn’t stop, not until there was a barrier in her way that she couldn’t break through, and the fingerprint coded cell that only Mack could open would do the trick. So he waited. And less than sixty seconds later, Sarah turned the corner of his office and nearly broke the door’s glass when she entered. “Let me inside, Mack.”

Bryce watched Sarah come in and wasn’t far behind her. He shut the door behind him, locking the three of them inside. Mack looked at her eyes, the same pair he’d seen a million times before. They’d always been curious, playful, mischievous, but what he saw now was something different. The deaths of her parents and her brother had caused hard callouses to replace the familiar eyes he’d once known.

“You won’t be going back out there anymore, Sarah,” Mack said. “As of right now, you are suspended. Bryce has already pulled your security clearances and blocked passports, accounts, and any other aliases you have.”

“Only the ones he knows about,” Sarah replied. Even though the remark was directed to Bryce, she kept her stare on Mack.

“Sarah,” Bryce said. “We need the board members alive. What Branston is giving us isn’t a hit list, it’s information we need to assimilate.”

“I’ve dealt with Branston in the past,” Mack said. “He was the head of our review board. Politics come easy to him. He understands how to manipulate. He’s using you, Sarah.”

“I don’t give a shit what he’s doing,” Sarah replied. “He won’t give up Demps’s location until the rest of them are dead. The others don’t know anything. All we need is Demps.”

“And what happens when you find him?” Mack asked.

“He’ll get the justice he deserves.”

“And what justice is that, Sarah?” Mack rose from his chair, stepping around his desk. He stood a good half a foot taller than Hill and had at least a hundred pounds on her. But she still looked like she’d break him in half. “Your justice? A bullet through his forehead that kills him and everything he knew about the attack, about Global Power, about his partnership with Branston?”

“There’s only one way for me to figure that out.”

Bryce stepped between the two of them. “Sarah, you can’t keep doing this. It doesn’t matter how many people you kill. You won’t be able to bring Ben back.”

Mack tried to react but was too slow, too old for Sarah’s speed, her tenacity, her anger. He jutted out his hand to try and block Sarah’s fist but did a poor job, as he barely softened the blow that connected to the side of Bryce’s face and sent him to the floor. Mack stepped in front of her, and she pulled her gun.

The rest of the room hurried to Mack’s office, but he waved them off. He checked Bryce on the floor. He was moving and breathing but disoriented from the hit. Sarah held her finger on the trigger, and Mack noticed that the safety was off.

“Get me in the room, Mack,” Sarah said, her words hoarse and wispy. “I need to finish this.” Her face was beet red, the muscles along her forearm rippling from the tight grip on the pistol. Her breathing was labored, her chest heaving in and out. Her eyes were red, glossy.

“If you really want Demps’s location, you’re going to have to shoot your way in that room.”

Sarah’s knuckles turned a ghostly white. The tip of the pistol’s barrel shook, and Sarah’s mouth twisted in pain. “I have to do this, Boss.”

“Then do it.” Mack remained motionless. He heard Bryce fumbling on the ground and then watched Sarah break eye contact with him and look down. He watched her face, the realization, the pain, the grief, and the release of everything she’d been holding in.

Sarah lowered the pistol, and it slammed against the floor, along with her and every single pound of weight she had carried. Her shoulders shook, and she buried her face in her hands. Mack dropped down with her and wrapped her up in his arms. He shot a glance to the rest of the room, which sent everyone else about their business. His secretary triggered the privacy glass. She felt small in his arms yet heavy with a burden. It was a burden he was familiar with.

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said. “I’m so sorry.” The words came out in muffled cries from underneath Mack’s shoulder. Bryce rose from the floor, his cheek slightly swollen, and reached out and set a hand gently on Sarah’s back, which triggered another violent assault of grief. Mack and Bryce sat with her on the floor until she stopped shaking. When she finally looked up to tell Mack he looked like shit, he couldn’t help but smile.

Bryce watched the doctor patch Sarah up, applying whatever medicines and balms he had to help speed up the healing process. Sarah had let him go first, despite both his and the doctor’s urgency that Sarah be attended to, but he’d finally agreed after Sarah threatened to hit him again. He knew she felt terrible for what she’d done. He just had to make sure she knew it was okay.

Out of all the agents working at GSF, both in the field and in support, none of them had the skills the two of them brought to the table. Since their first day, they were in sync, tuned in. When Bryce had first found out it was Sarah he was paired with, he was nervous. He’d heard stories from the previous support agents she’d worked with. She was reckless, careless, had no regard for the rules or safety. And while all of that was true, there was something else that no one had ever spoken to him about. It was a gentle calmness in the face of insanity he’d never seen before. A courage he didn’t know existed. He’d just hoped he would be able to match what she could do. And so far, he had.

“Here you go.”

Bryce felt a nudge on his arm, and Mack’s assistant, Grace, was next to him with a cup of tea. She pointed to his cheek. “It’ll help with the pain.”

Steam rose from the cup, and Bryce grabbed it, his hand lingering over hers. He just sat there, the cup warming his hand as he stared at her. Grace gave a light giggle, smiled, then walked away. Bryce watched her leave, transfixed on her figure, his jaw slack.

“Do you need a minute?” Sarah asked.

“Huh?” Bryce turned around sharply, swinging the cup and spilling some of the hot liquid on his leg. He pawed at the hot patch as it burned through the fabric of his pants. “Dammit.”

“When are you gonna have the balls to finally ask her out?”

“I’m waiting for the right moment.”

“Bryce, there is no right moment. You just go in and get it done when you can and as fast as you can.”

“I always knew you were a romantic.”

Sarah scoffed. The doctor finished up his work, and by the time he was done, Sarah looked almost normal. Most of the swelling had gone down thanks to the meds, and she had been lucky enough to escape without any fractures, with the exception of her nose.

“Your face looks like a bad watercolor painting,” Bryce said.

“I was just in a fight. What’s your excuse, ugly?” Sarah replied.

This was the first time they had been alone since the power had come back on after the blackout. Bryce sipped at the tea, the heat still strong enough to singe his lips. Sarah fiddled with the tips of her dirty nails, looking down at her feet. There was a vulnerability that he hadn’t seen before. He wasn’t sure if it had just never existed or if she had always hidden it, but it was there now in front of him. He finally had a peek inside the wall that had always been sealed up and locked tight.

“Mack said Becca and the girls will be coming here tonight,” Bryce said. “He’s sending in an extraction team once the CIA finishes questioning them. They’ll be safer here.”

“That’s good.” Sarah looked up, smiling through the light shades of bruises on her face, then cracked her knuckles and got to her feet. She walked over to him and rested her palm gently on his cheek where she’d hit him. “Thank you.”

Bryce didn’t know what to say. His lips moved fruitlessly, trying to form the words that told her it was okay, that he understood. “I’ll always have your back.”

Sarah brushed her thumb up and down the side of his face softly, a light mist in her eyes. Then, as quickly as she’d thanked him, she twisted his nipple hard and gave a playful slap to the other side of his face. Bryce jerked quickly, spilling more of the tea on his pants, and let out a high-pitched shriek. Sarah laughed and then made her way toward the door. When she got there, she stopped and turned back to him. “Well let’s go, Teacup. There’s still a bad guy on the loose.” She disappeared out the door, and Bryce set down the cup and tried drying his legs with a few tissues.

“So much for tender moments.”