Page 61 of Resolve
Chapter twenty-one
Dane
Ablurofcolorflies between me and the scientist. The gun disappears from his hand, and then he flies off his feet, crashing hard against the wall and collapsing unconscious to the floor.
“There you are!” Tinsley exclaims, breathless, from where the scientist had been standing. “Okay, stay right there.” She starts to turn, then whips back. “Oh, you can have this.” She clicks the safety on the gun and tosses it to me. She’s gone before I catch it.
“Did some of your friends already escape?” Alice appears beside me.
Tucking the gun in the back of my jeans, I sit at the nearest computer and set up an upload of all their files to my private cloud of GE data. It’ll keep running during our escape until it’s done, or someone notices and stops it early. “No. She wasn’t one of the members in the room,” I reply absently, finishing up and then turning off the monitor.
If she wasn’t in one of the rooms, was she somewhere else on the island without a camera view? More likely, Reid brought her. I have no clue how he found me, but it’s a relief to know I had anotherrescue team if Alice hadn’t been here.
Are Rae and the others with him?
“See?” Tinsley’s voice returns. “He’s already gotten himself out. I saved him from being shot, though.”
I turn just as Reid drops someone on the ground. “Good. Activate your gift and carry her,” he directs at me, pointing to the girl. His gaze flicks to Alice. A small tightening appears around his mouth, but he returns his attention to me.
Annoyance pricks my temper at the demand. “Why the fuck—”
Wait. Is that the portal chick?
I notice the bleeding wound from hip to shoulder across her front. “You took her out?”
Reid doesn’t answer.
Her chest rises imperceptibly. She’s alive.
“You didn’t kill her?” I ask next, realizing she could wake up and portal away back to Charles.
“Be my guest,” Reid states flatly, and I scowl at him.
I can’t kill her when she’s unconscious like this. It’s one thing if she’s coming after us or trying to hurt one of us, but lying defenseless on the floor?
Reid nods, as if he expected I’d refuse. “Keep her gift inert so she doesn’t escape on us.”
Kneeling by her side, I call my gift forward. “Put her on my back, then.”
Tinsley helps Reid place her over my back. I grab the gun and shift it to my front, then wrap my arms under her legs. “Why didn’t you kill her during your fight?” I grumble, standing and adjusting to her weight.
“We failed to kill the board members last night,” he says.I’d figured as much, but it confirms that the other teams not here were also unsuccessful. “We can use her gift against them next time.”
I doubt we’ll convince her to do it willingly. But I leave it at that. Aiden can decide what he wants to do when he sees her. “Since my hands are full now, go into the room there and unhook everyone. Turn off the machines first so we don’t alert anyone walking by when they get detached.”
Alice opens the door to the large room of Guild members in narrow hospital beds, and Tinsley races through. “On it!”
Machine after machine powers down as she speeds through the room too fast to see clearly.
“Hurray! We’re saved!” Gabriel cheers from his bed, his voice weak and strained.
Before I can check on him, Fabian groans. Fuck. He’s going to need to eat something. “You didn’t happen to bring any food, did you?” I ask Reid, who shakes his head.
Damn.
“She’s got something in her pockets,” Alice speaks up. I check over my shoulder, and she pokes at Bea.
“See what it is,” I tell her. She pinches something and pulls it out. A candy bar. “Let me see it.” I hold my hand out, careful to keep myself angled where Bea won’t slip off. Carrying her around like this is going to be annoying as fuck. “At least go and check if this place has any gift-blocking crap,” I tell Reid while Alice hands me the bar. “I don’t care if it’s a cuff, collar, or something else.”
