Lightning (30 page)

Relief filled Selah as Mother ran to her. She turned to hug Dane, but he stood in the cell area staring at her with wide eyes. “Come here, Dane. It's all right.”

Dane shook his head vigorously. Selah looked to Mother. “Can you explain that it's okay?”

Mother hurried to Dane, bent down in front of him, and talked for a few moments. He slowly moved toward Selah. She put out her hands and he ran into her arms. She let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

“Let's get out of here,” Mari said as she slid around behind the panel. “We've got to open all the corridors.”

Selah quickly joined her. It was easy to spot the closed corridors marked with red lights. They waved them open, and Selah gave the panel a burst from her pulse disruptor to end its service.

“How do you know we have the right ones open?” Mari looked at the fried panel.

Selah gnawed the corner of her lip. She hadn't thought
there was a possibility the green lights could be wrong. It was too late now. “I guess we'll find out.”

They cleared the room, and Mari chucked a sleepytime ball in with Bethany and shut the door.
Poof!

Mari took the lead and Selah brought up the rear, sandwiching Mother and Dane between them.

Traveling back to the front turned out to be easier than Selah thought. She remembered the turns and they were all open. Halfway there she saw Treva turning a corridor in their direction.

“Thank goodness I found you!” Treva said. “I was losing my mind. Corridors that had turns in them suddenly became dead ends, and I couldn't find a way in.” She looked at Mother and Dane. “You got them! We're leaving here.”

Selah turned Treva toward the exit. “Bethany Everling was back there. We barely made it out.”

“Bodhi, Mojica, and Cleon almost didn't make it either. They were pinned down when I got to them. This was all Bethany Everling's trap. Varro and Jaenen weren't there, but six of Bethany's security were,” Treva said, rushing along beside Selah.

Selah tensed. “Are they all right?”

“Yes. We took all the guards to sleepytime after a
little
disagreement.” Treva motioned that she didn't want to talk in front of Dane. Selah nodded.

They rushed around the last corner in the section and met up with Mojica and Bodhi coming their way.

Selah stopped. “Where's Cleon?” Her chest tightened and her hands went cold.

Bodhi raised a hand. “He's fine. He's guarding the way in. We lost track of Varro and Jaenen and don't want them sneaking up on us.”

Selah relaxed. “Bethany Everling was back there, and she controlled the panels to close off corridors.” She stretched out her hand to touch Bodhi's chest. Their eyes met. They'd both made it unscathed.

“Bethany has a block on our communications in here. Bodhi and I are going to run interference back to our spot so we can get active communications. I need to know how the extraction operation is proceeding.” Mojica looked over the group. “Glad we've got everyone. Now let's get out of town.”

Bodhi and Mojica jogged off to the streets. Selah wondered how long she should wait before she dare try that with her newly healed hip.

Dane moved to Selah's side and tried to take her hand holding the weapon. She smiled and moved him to her left side. They walked down the corridor to the last section turn that ended at the front door.

Selah felt a rush of relief. She could see the front door. They were getting out of this Mountain, once and for all.

A side wall panel slid aside. Varro and Jaenen stepped into the corridor in front of them. Both carried laser darts. Selah opened her mouth to speak.

Varro snatched Dane from her hands while Jaenen held her at bay with a red dot dancing on her chest. “You can have Pasha, but I'm keeping my son.”

8 Hours to Egress

Selah glared at Varro. It was strange how fast her emotions for him had evaporated. She would have gladly figured out how to gather enough rage to push him through a wall if it weren't for the fact that he was holding on to a wriggling Dane.

“Let my brother go,” she said.

Varro struggled with Dane. He finally cuffed the boy in the back of the head, and Dane recoiled in fear and hung his head.

“You've become quite a spitfire in the past few months.” Varro smirked at Selah.

She pressed her lips into a tight line. “Well, at least I don't hide behind children, or hire traitors to do my bidding.” She directed the last part of the remark to Jaenen. She wanted to rip him apart for making her trust him.

He acted like her words didn't bother him, but Selah could see a hint of sadness in his eyes. She started to plot. At this point she was willing to use that feeling against him. After what he'd pulled with Mari, she owed him no allegiance other than for his saving her life in Baltimore. Now she wondered if even that was real, or part of the setup to gain her trust.

“Varro, please. There is no need for this. Let Dane come with me,” Mother said.

Varro snorted and sneered at her. “Just keep your mouth shut. You've been nothing but trouble from beginning to end.”

Mother shrank back as though she had been struck.

“Leave her alone,” Selah said.

“Just shut up and get inside.” Varro led the way into the panel opening. No one followed.

Jaenen shoved Mari's shoulder, and she stumbled, falling to the floor. Treva helped her up and crowded in the door behind her with Mother and Selah bringing up the rear.

The area behind the wall was another large open area. Selah noticed marks on the floor where she could envision walls for rooms and corridors. This whole area was modular to be reconfigured as needed. Now she understood how Bethany could so easily move walls.

Their footsteps sounded like grit on a wooden floor. Selah couldn't see the floor clearly because of the low light. They marched single file into another corridor and into a room with illumination. Jaenen shut the door behind them.

Mother began arguing with Varro. Selah had never seen her this worked up. She guessed having Dane's life threatened
had given her mother new motivation. But she didn't mind the distraction. It gave her time to assess where they were.

She glanced around the room. It looked to be some kind of laboratory except there was no equipment. She glanced at Mari, whose hair was flowing around her shoulders. Strange. This was the first time Selah had seen her hair loose since the forest.

She mentally calculated how much time they had left—about seven hours. She wasn't ready to panic yet. She figured Bodhi would start looking for them soon. But how would he find them in here? She should have put up more of a fight to keep Varro from taking them to another location. Working on Jaenen's weakness for her looked like the only alternative at the moment.

Selah lowered her eyes and spoke softly to Jaenen. “I don't know what Varro did to you to make you kidnap Mari, but I forgive you. I remember how you were on our trip. You were nothing but kind and supportive, and I know you never wanted any of us to get hurt.”

Varro stopped arguing with Mother and pushed past her to grab Selah's arm.

Selah flinched and raised a hand to stop him. A lightning flash. He still had hold of her arm and she hadn't hurled him across the room or even moved him. Both horror and relief overtook her—what if she had used it all up and couldn't do it anymore? But thank goodness she hadn't hurt Varro. Although she hadn't thought about hurting him when she'd fought with him before. Maybe the difference was, before she had acted to defend herself, not be the aggressor.

Varro shook her. “What's wrong with you, girl? You faded out.”

Selah jerked from the fuzziness. “You can count yourself very lucky today.”

“I sure will, as soon as you stop trying to sweet-talk Jaenen. I see what you're up to.” Varro smirked.

“You've corrupted him with your dirty plan.” Selah tried to give Jaenen a sad look, but she didn't know if it had any effect. He hadn't spoken a word to her yet.

Varro shook his head. “For the last several
years
, Jaenen has been in TicCity, working for me to find Mari Kief.”

“I've heard about your long and devious career. I would love to see what Glade will have to say about all of this.” Selah relished the thought, but then realized if everything went right, Varro would get his rightful due and be locked in this Mountain to live out his life without polluting the world.

“Your snooping is what got you caught. I told Jaenen it was a wasted effort to go to the trouble of planting fake clues and a sensory pulse in the Repository file for you to open. The technology is too new and I said it wouldn't work.” Varro shrugged. “What did I know?” He turned to Jaenen. “You're real good. I would have liked to observe the range of delusion the sensory pulse caused Selah.”

Jaenen turned a little pink around the edges of his ears. Selah seethed. She wanted to shake him—better still, put him in a sleeper hold and then drop him in the ocean. The earthquake had been an effective delusion.

“So your offer to be our navigator coming here was all
an act?” Selah spit the words at him. “I thought you were a
friend
.”

Varro patted Jaenen on the shoulder. “He really couldn't afford to be friends with you. He's a cousin to Jericho Kingston. You remember him? The man you were supposed to marry.”

Selah stood up straight. “Yes, Jericho, son of Simeon,
your
friend. You're such great friends I bet you keep a lot of secrets together. I'll bet you two even made secrets in our barn.” She stared at him.

Varro blinked. “Doesn't matter. None of it matters because I no longer have to work at a sham of a marriage to keep track of you. I'll just stay right here in the Mountain where the top scientists in the field can work on you. The best part is you're a never-ending source of blood that I could sell dozens of times.”

Selah tipped her head. “I'd rather die.”

She felt suspended between the beats of a second. No one said a word. She heard each individual's breathing and felt the seconds physically ticking off her life.

The door burst open.

Bodhi stormed in, grabbing Varro near the door. Jaenen took aim. Selah saw the red laser dot dancing on Bodhi's chest. She swung around and swept Jaenen's feet from under him. His weapon fired. The laser shot screeched and Bodhi grabbed his arm.

Varro slipped out the open door, dragging Dane. He yelled into his wrist communicator.

Jaenen struggled to his feet. Treva charged him but he
shoved her into Mari and Selah, and the three of them toppled over. He snatched up his weapon and rushed out the door.

Selah scrambled after him. In the low light she had to stop and mentally distinguish one person from another. It was a standoff. Varro had a knife to Dane's throat. Mother was begging him to stop. Now Mojica and Cleon were here with weapons trained on Varro and Jaenen. Treva and Mari charged out of the other room. Jaenen grabbed Mari around the neck and pointed his weapon at Treva's chest.

From behind Varro and Jaenen came the sound of running footsteps. Three men with laser darts came into view. Selah hoped they were Mountain security. But her hopes crashed when they stopped beside Varro.

“Don't make me kill him,” Varro yelled.

Mother fell to her knees. “Why? Please, Varro, he's your son. Your blood. Why would you harm him?”

“Nothing and no one is more important than the success of our version of the Protocol. And I'm willing to bet his life on it. Either I go free or he dies.”

Bodhi was missing. Selah looked around. He stood in the doorway they had exited, carrying a laser dart.

The room was dark and the scene loud and confusing as Selah slowly backed toward his position. “Where did you get a laser dart? And how did you find us?”

“We took them from Bethany's forces when we put them to sleep. They don't need them anymore. And there was a hair tie on the floor inside this corridor where sections intersected, so we checked this one first.”

Selah made a note to hug Mari for that bit of genius.

She heard a scream. She pivoted to Varro. There was a tiny trickle of blood oozing down the side of Dane's neck. The boy was starting to list to one side, and Varro was having a hard time holding on to him. “Selah, come out of the shadows and show yourself. You can't get out of this maze, but I can take it out on Dane.”

Selah sucked in a breath and got ready to run at him.

Bodhi grabbed her arm. “Don't. They can't see me in the dark here. Let me take the shot.”

“But you can't do that. Do you even know how to shoot?”

“Apparently I was very good at it at one time, and I haven't lost my aim.”

Selah turned back in time to see Treva in negotiations with Varro about hiding places in the Mountain. She moved too close. Varro pushed Dane away and grabbed Treva, knife to her throat. She put her hands up in surrender. Selah could see Treva had a good angle to deflect the knife. She hoped Cleon had noticed.

Mother pulled Dane far away and wrapped him in her arms, crying.

“Let her go!” Cleon dove at his father, knocking his knife to the side. Treva skirted away in one direction and the knife went in the other. Varro lifted the laser dart slung around his shoulder. He swung it as a physical weapon, striking Cleon, who stepped back and ducked the next blow. He punched Varro in the ribs.

Varro lurched to the side, putting Treva in his line of sight. “Live with this, you ungrateful boy.” The red dot of Varro's laser dart lit up Treva's head.

“Nooo!” Cleon screamed as he threw himself in the line of fire. The laser exploded on his side. Cleon fell in a heap.

Treva screamed.

Selah's heart felt like it stopped.

Bodhi took aim at Varro.

“He's my family.” Selah moved toward Bodhi's weapon.