The Decaying Empire (The Vanishing Girl Series Book 2) (12 page)

The words here had been typed, not handwritten. Had the Project tweaked its style slightly?

No. My outfit seemed too outlandish. And the Project had never given me a gun before. I rubbed my forehead. I’d also fallen asleep naturally; the Project always gave me a sedative to control when I teleported.

This wasn’t the Project’s doing.

But if this wasn’t the Project, then who sent me?

I worried my lower lip, my eyes moving back to the lodestones. They had to do with my ability—that much I knew. The only person who’d showed interest in the stones besides the Project was Adrian. Plus he’d recently acquired my imprint.

Was this his doing? If so, why would he send me on a mission when I’d been so desperate to escape them?

The answer lay in front of me. He needed the lodestones.

I paced. Should I do this? This could simply mean transferring power from one group to another. I understood enough about human nature to know this was a possibility, friend or not.

It came down to this: Adrian was going to help Caden and me escape. I’d go along with his plans until I was free from government control.

I made a decision. Take action.

On the far end of the room rested a display that mapped out the museum. I hurried over to it, aware that I could be setting off motion detector alarms. I’d have to chance it.

My eyes scoured the map, looking for the nearest restroom. Down the hall and off to the right. However, there was another bathroom in the other direction, next to a stairwell. If I didn’t want to get caught and compromise my identity, I’d need access to that stairwell.

As soon as my eyes drifted to the top of the map, I froze.

The Smithsonian. I was going to steal lodestones from the Smithsonian. Just when I thought my memory had fully returned, a detail drifted in that I’d forgotten. Almost a year ago a man working with Adrian had stolen lodestones from this same museum.

You are just a pawn. And a pawn can’t help but get played.
Adrian’s words from that day rang in my ears.

Walking back to the lodestone case, I unsnapped the holster at my waist and drew out a Beretta. What Adrian failed to mention that day was that even a pawn could take down the queen.

I stopped several feet from the case and cocked the gun.

Here’s to living by the sword.

I pulled the trigger.

The glass shattered and an alarm blared around me. The room flashed red.

Leaning in I scooped up the lodestones and sprinted toward the bathroom.

My feet wobbled in the heeled boots I wore. Just as I silently cursed whoever had designed my outfit, I heard the sound of tearing seams.

I briefly closed my eyes.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Ripped freaking pants. I had to flee with my ass hanging out.

Someone was going down for this.

I rounded the corner when I heard distant shouts. I pushed my protesting muscles to go faster. Ahead of me I caught sight of the bathroom. I threw a glance behind me. The hallway was empty. Not that it mattered. If they were watching the security footage, then they’d be coming for me soon.

I pushed open the bathroom door and headed for a stall. Under the pulsating alarm lights, a flash of pale pink caught my eye in the mirror. I spared it a passing glance. The wig I wore was the color of cotton candy. I looked like a freak. I mean, a sexy, masked freak, but a freak nonetheless. With ripped pants.

Kicking open a stall door, I stepped inside and locked it behind me. Much good that would do. I tossed the first stone into the porcelain bowl and flushed it down.

Oh, the glamorous life of a teleporter.

I dropped the second gem in and flushed again. I would’ve preferred to dump all the lodestones down at once, but it wouldn’t do to steal the gems only to have them clog the pipes on their way out. As it was, I had my doubts that this would actually work.

Just as I tossed the third stone into the toilet, I thought I heard footsteps approach the door of the restroom.

I swore under my breath and dumped the rest of the stones, kicking the flusher. Hopefully, they wouldn’t stop up the pipes.

How to handle the situation? If I stayed in here, I’d be cornered, but if I tried to run, they’d probably catch me. Then the jig would be up.

I left the stall and continued to mull it over. As soon as I aimed the gun, they’d shoot me. But if I dropped the weapon, they’d catch and cuff me. Again no good.

I needed to get into a situation that bought me time. Kidnappers and bank robbers managed these standoffs, but I had no hostages.

Wait.

But I did.

I pulled the Beretta out of the holster and placed the barrel against my temple. My legs shook as the cold steel pressed into my skin. I closed my eyes, taking shallow breaths as I vividly recalled the last time I’d been shot.

The barrel of the gun moved against my temple as my hand trembled.

“Come out with your hands up!” someone shouted on the other side of the door.

“I have a gun, and I’m going to shoot myself!” I yelled back. A very real tremor shook my voice.

A pause. Then shuffling. Voices spoke outside the door, and I got the impression my assailants were communicating with their superior.

My arm began to ache and the gun felt heavy. Just when I truly worried that my fatigue and panic would cause me to accidentally do something stupid, I disappeared.

The alarm went off next to me, and I groaned into the pillow. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet. Early-morning training. The thought of it had me burrowing deeper under my covers.

Caden got up and turned it off, then grabbed the edge of the sheets.

“Don’t even fucking think about it,” I growled, tightening the sheets around me. Only, as soon as I moved, my muscles flared up. I made a small, pained noise.

“Is this where I play nurse?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Oh my God,” I said as the events of the night before rushed back to me. I put my hands to my face.

“What is it?” Caden’s tone changed from playful to serious.

When I lowered my hands from my face, he got a good look at my expression. Whatever he saw was enough to wipe away the last of his teasing.

“Get dressed,” he whispered. “It’s time to talk.”

The early-morning air tasted crisp against my tongue, just like I remembered. I breathed in the smell of pine and earth; none of man’s machinations could touch this wildness. Something about that brought me comfort.

We’d barely stopped walking when Caden swiveled to face me. “Everything is ready.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Money, passports, credit cards—I already have it all set aside for us.”

I stared at Caden, not computing his words. “What?” I’d been ready to tell him about my plans. I wasn’t expecting this.

A grin tugged at his lips. “You’re not the only one who can keep a secret, angel.”

I searched his face. Money was one thing, but
passports
? “How? When? Where?”

“How? Connections of mine. When?” His eyes fell heavily on me. “You can guess. And where? Relatively close by, but outside the facility.”

He’d been a busy bee while I was comatose. I rubbed my mouth. All of this he did for me.

“You shouldn’t have risked your life organizing this escape.” His grief-fueled preparations had only come about because I had died preparing for this very thing.

Caden laughed. “Because I cared so much for my life in the last ten months.”

I winced at his words. “You should’ve. I’m just a girl.” In the scheme of his life, I was a brief blip.

He closed the space between us. “You really think that? That you’re ‘just a girl’? You, the one person engineered for me—the woman I fell in love with and then lost?”

Yes. No. Maybe. All I knew for sure was that I wasn’t the same person he lost, and even if I were, I wouldn’t live up to his gilded memories.

He searched my eyes. “You know nothing, Ember.”

I averted my gaze.

“What is that?” Caden said, tilting my chin up.

“What?”

He stared at me. “That. That look in your eyes. It started to fade away over the last couple of days, but this morning it’s back.”

I swallowed. “You know what that look is.” He just didn’t want to put a name to it. Terror.

“Why did you wake up with it?”

I wanted to look anywhere but at Caden. “All teleporters who’ve disappeared come back with this look. You said so yourself.”

Caden squinted at me, reading my thoughts from my expression. “Where did you go last night?”

Sometimes I really hated it that he could peel back the layers. It made keeping things from him next to impossible. “I’ve been organizing plans to escape too.”

He let go of my chin. “What does that have to do with teleporting last night?”

How to phrase this? “Last night I went on a mission. One that wasn’t led by the Project.”

Caden stared at me for a long moment as my words sunk in. Seconds ticked by before panic flared in the back of his eyes. “You went on a mission,” he repeated.

“Yes.”

“And you believe it wasn’t the Project’s doing?”

I sighed. “I’m almost positive it wasn’t.”

“Then who could it be? And how is that possible?” He studied me for another beat. What he saw in my eyes made him stagger back. “Adrian? Are you still visiting him?”

“He’s promised to help us escape.”

“‘Us’? What have you gotten us involved in?”

My lips parted in surprise. An angry flush spread across my cheeks. “Are you kidding me? I’m trying to save us.”

“You think he sent you on a mission, and you still want to trust him?” Caden drew away from me and slammed his fist into a tree.

“Shit, I’m not going to go along with this,” he said. “Escaping the Project only to fall into another enemy’s lap is not how we’re going to do this.”

My hackles rose. I’d given up escape only to come here and leave with Caden, and now he was trying to dictate exactly how this would play out. “You don’t get a choice in the matter. I’m taking the help Adrian is offering us. You can either join me, or you can stay behind. It’s that simple.”

Caden turned to face me, his fingers threaded together on top of his head. Surprise and hurt danced across his face. He clearly wasn’t expecting my backbone to pop into place right now. Although, by the looks of it, he didn’t think it was my backbone. He thought this was me placing my trust in the wrong person. That only pissed me off more.

He dropped his hands. “You know what? Fuck it,” he said shaking his head.

And then he left.