Knight placed his empty glass down on a nearby table with a small clink.
“That’s enough chitchat boys. Time to fulfil your col ective—” He laughed.
“Yes. Your
col ective
destinies.”
151
Night Shadow
Before he could fight it, Alex suddenly found himself plunged into pitch
darkness of thousands of gallons of a viscous, blood-temperature liquid.
The sound of tons of metal sliding over him as the lid slid shut echoed in
his brain like a death knel .
Lexi tore her gaze away from the macabre nursery. For a moment she
thought it was a trick of the light, or perhaps a problem with being
transported too many times in too short a period. But it looked like, for
just a mere second, as if Knight had flickered.
Hologram? That was one of the powers Blackthorne had. Did Knight have
it too? A surge of hope hit her blood. He was playing them, isolating them
like prisoners in a detention camp to keep them from communicating with
one another.
Screw that. He didn’t know that the ladies had been gifted with temporary
powers by Duncan and the Council to deal with this crisis.
Lexi edged away from Dr. Knight, retreating to an area near the large
computer banks, hoping the mechanical hum would block out the sound of
her breathing. She reached out telepathical y to Sydney and Kess.
Hey.
Where are you?
Kess answered first.
I’m in some office waiting to talk to the president of
the United States. T-FLAC has stepped across some government biological
experiment that Knight was heading up. This is a fucking nightmare and
we’re suspected of espionage and threatening homeland security!
It’s a trick. He’s manipulating your mind.
If he is, it’s working on al the cops in the area too,
Sydney chimed in.
I
escaped, but nobody will believe me. They’re giving me the runaround and
running a background check, calling the local mental hospitals. How the
hel do we get out of this?
Focus. I need you both to teleport to me.
I don’t know if I can.
The fear came through loud and clear in Kess’s
thoughts.
Don’t think about it. Just do it.
Kess shimmered in first, fol owed shortly by Sydney.
“Damn. It worked!” Kess grinned. “Now what?”
“Now we kick some ass and find our guys.”
Twenty-one
“Kess, keep an eye on Dr. Knight,” Lexi instructed. They stood between
two rows of Vitros. Lexi chose to turn her back on the row of glass-fronted
boxes containing almost fully developed Vitros. Even though the row she
and the other woman stood in were Simon Vitros, it was still creepy
having so many unanimated green eyes boring a hole into her back. She’d
rather stare at the back of the boxes on the other side, with their
electrical cords, and blinking status panels of red, white, and green lights.
“Let us know if he stops talking or notices we’re not hanging on his every
word,” Lexi instructed Kess.
152
Night Shadow
Kess nodded, then walked quietly back the way they’d come. She turned,
her brand new engagement ring winking on her finger as she gave them a
thumbs-up.
Knight’s hologram was stil yakking away. Good. That bought them a little
time.
She turned to Sydney, who was staring at a Vitro as if trying to read his
mind. The thing didn’t
have
a mind. Which made it that much creepier.
Would she know if Alex had already been absorbed? Would her heart
know? Would she look into one of the young Alex Vitros and see him
inside those green eyes, looking back at her, like she did with the Simon
Vitros?
She shuddered. Do not
think
like that. Think like a damned operative.
That’s what I am. That’s what I’m trained to be. An operative. “Okay,” she
said snagging Sydney’s attention. “First thi—” A loud, metallic clang, like
something large and heavy closing, echoed and re-echoed through the
warehouse. Startled, the two women’s gazes clashed.
Lexi spread her hands in a what-the-hel -was-that gesture. Sydney
shrugged.
“We need to get outfitted, LockOut, et cetera,” she told Sydney urgently;
the incredibly loud noise, coupled with the almost preternaturally
machine-humming-quiet of the warehouse made her nerves stretch like
rubber bands about to snap. The soft, sibilant drone of Knight’s voice, and
the slightly uneven gait of his footsteps as the hologram hobbled just like
the real thing did, was far off as he continued walking and talking,
unaware that he was conversing with no one. Or maybe he didn’t care?
Whatever had caused that loud clang was probably not good. Lexi couldn’t
begin to imagine where Alex and the others were. But she trusted that
Alex was doing everything in his power to stop Knight. She’d like to
believe he was also doing everything in his power to get back to her. But
that was thinking like a woman, not an operative. And right now she was
an operative first and foremost.
Alex would be working on stopping Knight. That’s all that would be, should
be, on his mind right now.
Alex, where are you?
She hated, hated, freaking
hated,
that she couldn’t
sense him anywhere. What was the point of having a telepathic
connection if they couldn’t communicate?
If the man with her and the other women was a hologram of Knight, then
the real Knight must be with Alex, Lucas, and Simon. Lexi could practically
hear a freaking countdown clock ticking off the seconds in her head.
Knight had manipulated them into coming. There was no reason for him to
delay. Unless he has something worse planned.
He wanted Alex’s powers, and he’d take them. However one wizard took
another’s power—he’d do it.
Was it over? She couldn’t believe she wouldn’t know. She had to believe
that Alex was okay. Had to believe it. Because she couldn’t imagine life
without him. Even if he didn’t feel what she felt, at least she wanted to
know that he was somewhere. Anywhere. Alive and wel . Thinking about
her. Hel , as
miserable
without her as she was without him.
153
Night Shadow
Lexi had calculated the odds of survival here today. Any odds were good
odds. Any chance of stopping Knight and this crazy clone scheme was
worth all the personal risk.
But the odds were not in the good guys’ favor.
If Duncan Edge and his Council, and all the wizards outside in the parking
lot couldn’t break into the warehouse with al their powers, and all their
might, what hope did six of them have of bringing down such a powerful
wizard?
Reality check. They couldn’t.
Alex, she knew without a scintil a of doubt, would not stop until he’d
destroyed Knight and every last one of his Vitros. He’d die trying.
Lexi knew she could do no less.
There had to be some reason that Knight had needed her and the other
two women to come inside when the most powerful wizards in the world
had been locked out.
And she was damned if that reason was his intention to use her as a
walking uterus.
Her temples pounded as she concentrated. What had Edge told her when
he’d given her powers?
Don’t try too hard. Think it. Expect it, and it’ll
happen.
Boy, talk about taking a nosedive into an alternate universe. No black. No
white. No
rules.
Just touchy-feely hocus-pocus. “Okay,” she said under
her breath. “Here goes nothing.” She thought about LockOut, hard body
armor, boots, headsets, and lip mics.
“Holy shit,” Sydney whispered, her eyes round with amazement as all
three of them were suddenly dressed in combat gear from head to toe.
From her post at the other end of the aisle, Kess spun around, her face
white. Even Lexi was impressed. She indicated she’d been the one to
suddenly clothe them all in combat gear. Kess gave a holy-cow-color-me-
impressed nod, then turned back to watch the hologram expound the
virtues of terrorists hiring clones instead of soldiers.
Since tangos and clones were all expendable to Knight, Lexi figured one
put money in his pockets, the other didn’t. It was a matter of commerce.
Knight’s voice faded, almost inaudible as he moved away from them. The
machine’s low hum and slowly blinking lights caused Lexi’s nerves to
stretch even further.
“Now for weapons.” She thought of her lovely custom-made Glock left at
Edridge Castle. And her Sig, while she was at it. And a couple more loaded
weapons. And her Ka-Bar. And the hunting knife. And . . . Oh, yeah. This
worked! The weapons appeared around her feet. Pop. Pop. Pop. Woohoo!
She thought and expected a few extra goodies. C4, timers, charges, the
works to blow this place sky-high.
Ta-da.
Man, was this a cool skil , or what?!
She’d never cast aspersions on the benefits of wizard powers again.
“
Now
we’re talking,” Sydney said softly and with great relish, as she
pul ed a Glock from its holster and checked the clip. She held out her
hand, paused, then looked pleased when a rubber band appeared in her
154
Night Shadow
palm. Satisfied with her accomplishment, she gathered her hair into an
untidy ponytail.
Lexi checked that both her Glock and the Sig were loaded. They were.
Good. Next she picked up the Ka-Bar and stuck it in the leg holster, then
inserted the small fighting knife in the upside-down holster strapped to
her left shoulder.
“Damn, that’s impressive,” Sydney said, admiring her arsenal. “Do I get a
knife?”
Lexi gave her a considering look. Sydney had stuck a freaking
flower
in
her lapel to go on an op. She looked like she’d be pissed if she broke a
nail. But even in the short time Lexi had known her, she knew Sydney’s
girly looks were deceiving. The woman had brass. Lexi liked her.
Stil —“A knife is up close and personal. And messy. Up to you.” Sydney
shuddered. “Um . . . no. Backspace and delete that question. This gun will
do me.” She looked at the rest of the weapons laid out on the floor at
their feet. “Maybe I’l take this little gun, too.” Picking up a Ruger .22, she
stuck it in an ankle holster, her streaky ponytail bobbing as she stood
upright. “Ready?”
Lexi nodded. “Kess?” she called softly.
The redhead came back, and whispered. “He’s about four hundred yards
away. Doesn’t look as though he’s missed us.”
“Let’s keep it that way,” Lexi told them, her heart thumping and
adrenaline starting to surge through her system again. “I’l take out the
central computer. Kess come with me. Sydney can set the—”
“Do you know anything about setting explosives?” Kess asked Sydney,
who shook her head. “Okay. I watched them do some demolitions in
Mallaruza. I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I know
which end to light.”
“Kess, we’l join you over there as soon as chaos ensues. I hope to hel
turning everything off is enough. We want him so busy trying to get the
computers and electricity back on, that he doesn’t notice us blowing this
place to hell.”
Kess fingered the butt of her Glock. “What if Knight is on Mars or
somewhere and doesn’t even know his precious clones are being
vaporized?”
“Then we consider half the job done, and go after his ass afterward.”
Sydney bent over and picked up a smal hunting knife and shoved it into
the thigh holster. “I might get over my aversion to up close and personal.”
“I wish we had a few hand grenades,” Kess said as wistfully as if she were
thinking about craving an iced latte. “I throw like an outfielder.”
“Think it. Expect it.” Lexi quoted Duncan Edge.
“Do you think it’l wo—Holy shit!” Kess said, cradling an armful of
grenades.
“I’l take a few of those.” Sydney plucked several off the pile in Kess’s
arms, and tucked them in her tac belt, and one in the free leg holster.
Lexi shook her head, amused. “I’l relieve you of a few as wel . Okay.
Everybody ready? Kess, set your charges, then report in.” Lexi nodded
155
Night Shadow
and Kess picked up the canvas tote filled with C4. “Synchronize watches.
Six minutes?”
“Five.” Kess countered. “We can’t afford to wait.”
“Okay. T minus five minutes.
Go.
”
05:00:00
Alex plummeted head over heels through the tepid liquid in the tank,
hitting bottom with the force of his entry. He opened his eyes. Pitch black.
Kicking off the steel base automatical y, he swam as fast as he could to