Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 18

  I wasn’t close enough to either of them to land a blow, but my teammate’s quick actions meant I didn’t have to. I ducked down behind the third officer as he tumbled, keeping him from finding his footing. He fell over me and flipped backward into a heap. The officer’s gun fell and skittered across the ground near the legs of a tourist, who shrieked as if it were a live snake. All three of the officers looked toward it as though we would go for it, and that was our cue—Roxy got to the door first, throwing it open for me as Bryce charged past the fallen officers, kicking the gun across the café as he ran toward us. We might be trained soldiers, but this wasn’t a fight any of us wanted, especially with civilians nearby. A quick retreat was our only option.

  I took off after Roxy, Bryce’s heavy footsteps following close behind. By that time, adrenaline had seized my body, giving me a burst of energy. A woman pushing a stroller jumped and then shouted irritably as we raced past.

  Don’t mind us. Just suspiciously grubby friends out for a midmorning sprint.

  It was a good thing the coffee shop was close to the edge of town. We skirted the outdoor patio and a few stores and darted down an alley. The tall evergreens peeking over the tops of the quaint shingled buildings promised coverage as soon as we made it out of town.

  Two figures stood on the path ahead, partially blocking our escape. One leaned into a dumpster and threw something to the other person. Both of them were sporting ugly neon sweaters that burned my eyes. I’d already tried to figure out the best ways to escape without involving them in the conflict when the meaning of those horrendous outfits hit me. Zach and Gina!

  “Remind me never to take food for granted again,” Zach was in the middle of saying as we ran into earshot. Then his head jerked to the side, and he caught my eyes. “Roxy! Lyra!”

  Gina’s mouth dropped in surprise as she followed his gaze. She threw everything quickly into the bag and hefted it onto her shoulder in a fluid motion.

  “We’re in trouble,” Roxy bellowed at them. They both knew better than to question that tone and immediately joined us in our pell-mell escape.

  “We can’t bring you anywhere, can we?” Zach lamented, swinging into stride next to me.

  “Not the time, Zach!” I cried. He was right—I had a knack for getting into chases with authority figures lately, but none of them felt like joking matters.

  Making that clearer than ever, the sound of footsteps behind us echoed off the sides of the buildings that made up the narrow alley. I took one glance back to see the trio of officers, puffing but managing not to get lost in the dust.

  “We’ve got company,” I shouted, looking ahead again to keep my speed up. Normally I’d have no doubt we would be able to outrun these guys eventually, but we were all exhausted, hungry, and sore.

  A shot rang out down the alley. An actual bullet zipped over our heads. These officers had fired at us without even confirming our identities.

  Every nerve in my body turned up a notch, adrenaline turning the fear into an extra push of speed. The last weapons I’d dealt with had been dark energy lasers that only left a tingle in my skin. The stakes here were far higher.

  From somewhere in the distance, a siren began to sing.

  “Stop!” The shout came from the bald officer.

  Bryce swore. The five of us kept up the pace, exiting the alley onto a pine-needle-strewn back road, weaving a bit to make ourselves harder to hit. Roxy stripped off her brightly colored sweater as she ran, narrowly avoiding crashing face-first into a tree, and the rest of us followed suit, knowing the bright clothing made us easier targets.

  I heard Zach’s breath hitch in pain as he kept pace with me, and the sound worried me more than the sound of the gun going off had. Great going, Lyra. It was too soon for Zach to be on a mission. If he got shot again… He’d been so insistent about being included. He’d been going stir-crazy sitting out of all the activities in order to heal, but now I couldn’t believe I’d let him convince me.

  “Left,” Roxy barked, leading the pack. Her movements were stiff, but the adrenaline from being shot at was plenty of motivation. I evened out my pace, staying alongside my brother because I’d be damned if I let him down after allowing him back into danger.

  Two more shots rang out, but I didn’t hear any impacts or ricochets. Had they been firing into the air above our heads? That was dangerous, and not just for us. Weren’t these jerks worried about civilians? Were they shooting warning shots, or did they just aim like toddlers? Did they have any idea what they were doing?

  A part of me wanted to believe this small, boutique town must not see very many outlaws. But another part saw desperation and fear. What had the Bureau told them about us that they were behaving this erratically? Irritation swelled in my mind along with the adrenaline and fear.

  The neighborhood road we’d been running down turned into several dirt driveways lined with trees. We dove into the forest as a group. Gina’s duffel bag snagged on a bush, but she pushed herself through, lifting the bag above her head. A bullet struck the bag with a noise like hitting a punching bag, and there was a shower of dust and crumbs.

  Thick evergreen shrubbery and tall weeds buffeted my chest, tearing at my limbs, and I struggled to keep up the pace, watching our entire group do the same. We couldn’t afford to take it slow—there would be more cops coming, more heat to pin us down.

  “Right,” Bryce blurted. “Skew right. Run like hell for the underbrush, then get on your bellies and freeze.”

  We were near the point where Laini had dropped us off. She’d told us she would hide and wait for us. Please be here. My panicked eyes scanned the treetops. The trees were knitted tightly together here. I struck my shoulder painfully against a solid trunk.

  Following Bryce’s instructions, we threw ourselves into the underbrush. Zach practically pulled his head through a shrub as he ducked to the ground, and he spat out a leaf but kept silent. Gina’s hair caught on a low-hanging branch. She yanked it free with wild eyes and dove behind Bryce. I pressed my face into the cold ground. My heart slammed against my chest. We waited in tense silence as approaching voices, shouts, and radio chatter faded and then came closer again. They’re hunting us like dogs.

  At least they didn’t have dogs.

  Nobody breathed as footsteps neared our hiding spot.

  “Where’d they go?” asked a voice. It sounded like the officer who’d been closest to Bryce in the café.

  “They’ve got to be around here,” another voice said gruffly. “They couldn’t have transportation stashed out here. The tracks look like they might lead this way.”

  As I watched, Bryce snatched up a pebble and threw it as far as he could in the opposite direction. The officers stirred as leaves rustled audibly down the steep incline beside our hideout.

  “It could’ve been an animal,” one of them said hesitantly. “Didn’t sound much like footsteps.”

  “Yeah, or maybe they went downhill toward one of the trails. There’s no way they could get far in all the brush up this way. You heard the sheriff’s voice during the briefing. We can’t screw this up.”

  Had the Bureau informed the police we had access to redbills? Knowing the Bureau, I couldn’t see them sharing that kind of information. I could almost hear the higher-ups quipping that if the public or even police officers knew humans could fly redbills, it would cause a hysterical reaction among the media. The public saw the redbills as threats, mutated wild animals, impossible to control.

  I prayed I was right as someone stepped toward our hiding spot. A twig cracked nearby, only a few feet away. I couldn’t see much through the thick underbrush. A man sighed.

  “Let’s get backup and set up search teams. The northern side of the mountain will take at least two teams of ten officers,” he said.

  “Looks like it’s overtime for all of us,” the bald one muttered.

  “I’m going to look around more,” a gruff voice said. The bulldog-faced officer.

  My stomach dropped. Two peop
le retreated, their footsteps quieting gradually. The remaining officer hovered nearby. I could hear him breathing. My knuckles turned white, my nails digging into my palms as I willed myself to be totally silent.

  The officer took a step toward our hiding place. He barked into his radio, “Jones, tell the canine guy to come this way when he gets here. I’ve got a good feeling about it.”

  Not happening. I shot Bryce a pointed look, and he responded with the smallest affirming nod. Officer Bulldog had to go, and it sounded like he was closest to me.

  I readied myself for a brief second, then shot up from my hiding spot. Surprised eyes greeted me, but the man’s gun was aimed at the ground. I threw a fist straight to his gut and snatched him up in a headlock as he doubled over, putting pressure on his throat and windpipe. The man jerked beneath me, unable to make a sound. He tried reaching for his radio with a shaking hand, but he fell slack into my arms after a moment. Roxy grabbed his feet as he toppled.

  Communicating with silent looks and nods, she and I dragged him behind the largest nearby tree, using it for cover just in case the other officers came back. I grabbed his handcuffs and secured his hands behind his back. Roxy ripped off a piece of his pant leg, using it to gag him.

  A twig snapped in the distance. Roxy and I dropped to the ground again, waiting with bated breath.

  Nobody spoke for a full minute. In the officers’ absence, the quiet of the forest was strangely malevolent instead of peaceful, like enemies could come from any direction. The treetops whispered among themselves, their branches closing in around us. The air felt stuffy despite the slight breeze. The soft drone of crickets rang out.

  I breathed a small sigh of relief when Bryce quietly cleared his throat.

  “We crawl a hundred yards toward that copse of trees. Stay low to the ground. No talking,” he murmured.

  I levered myself up on my elbows and pulled myself across the dirty ground, spruce needles poking painfully into my skin.

  My arms and legs felt charged after our sudden sprint, like I was halfway through heavy exercise at the gym, right at the high point before the soreness started to kick in. My body had served me well during the chase; I could still take someone down. Even hungry and dirty, my hard-won skills reminded me that I was capable… but also that I would need to take care of myself as much as possible while on the run. None of us could stay in peak form without taking care of our needs, and that was going to be hard to do until… well, until all this was over. I tried not to think of how long that could possibly be.

  Around me, everyone moved through the brush. Our strange movements mimicked the sound of animals crawling across the ground. We were wild animals trying to survive the forest.

  None of us spoke, but all around me, I could hear labored breathing. Occasionally, Zach grunted softly in pain. His leg wound, though covered, couldn’t be comfortable pressing against the ground. I was reminded again that it had been too soon for him to join us. The wound was barely a week old. Sure, we hadn’t anticipated running from the police, but I needed to be more cautious in the future. This wasn’t training, or even a carefully managed Bureau mission.

  Lately, planning for anything but a worst-case scenario seemed less and less sensible.

  I looked beside me and saw my brother’s face set tight with pain and flushed from exertion, his earlier jokes forgotten. I knew from the look on his face that he would soldier on. We couldn’t really afford to take a break, and Zach knew as well as I did that the officers could be combing the area from a distance, searching for movement among the trees.

  I hoped the vampire scouts were faring better than we were.

  Finally, I reached the copse where young, leafy deciduous trees grew thickly together, providing some amount of cover. I stood with a muted groan at my stiff muscles, brushing the dirt from my already ridiculous outfit. Laundry would be on the agenda if we made it back. I turned to offer a hand to Zach, and he took it as he hauled himself up, his face strained. Roxy followed at almost the same time, with Bryce behind her.

  Bryce shook his head in frustration and swatted leaves off his face.

  “Do you think Laini left?” I asked worriedly. The pickup point was close, but I had no idea how much time had passed.

  “She probably heard the gunshots. She’ll be around here somewhere,” Bryce said. “She might’ve gone farther into the trees if the redbills got spooked.”

  Gina emerged from the shrub cover with the duffel bag slung over her back, yanking to get it free of the underbrush. She brushed leaves off her clothes.

  “Nothing better for a leg wound than army-crawling away from an enemy,” Zach said with a stiff, unconvincing smile. “I haven’t done that much slithering since basic training.” His controlled, heavy breathing was a pain management technique.

  I tried not to wince in sympathy, imagining his pain. In the end, he’d been the one who had insisted on coming, but it didn’t stop me from feeling responsible. I was just glad he’d made it this far.

  “You didn’t have a wounded leg then, either.” I put my arm out for him to lean on. “How are you?”

  “I’ll be fine,” Zach promised, though he still leaned against me. “As long as those guys don’t come back.” If they did, we would have to figure something out. I would carry him on my back if I needed to. I wasn’t leaving Zach behind.

  I caught Bryce staring into the trees, rubbing his face with a pensive look.

  “Did you reach your contact at the CIA?” I asked hopefully, forcing myself back to the main point of our excursion.

  “I had to leave a voicemail,” Bryce admitted, his face more unsure than usual. Roxy frowned in dismay, an expression that mirrored my own. I fought the feeling of irritation that we’d gone through all that and only gotten to leave a voicemail for our troubles.

  “How will the contact reach out?” I asked. We needed to stay hopeful, though it was difficult when covered in dirt, pine needles, and probably bugs.

  “I gave them the code to the new channel we’re using for the comms,” Bryce said and rubbed his chin again, smudging dirt across his sweaty face. “I just hope they haven't received the news that we’re apparently wanted for murder.”

  Roxy gave a disgusted snort. It was starting to seem like the Bureau would do anything to get us back, even lie to other law enforcement departments and the general public. The terrified faces surrounding us in the café had said everything—we were dangerous. With my choice of career, I’d sworn to protect the public from danger, but now, in their eyes, I was the danger. Out of immediate risk, for now, my mind picked apart the implications of our last encounter, and anger at the Bureau grew in my gut again. This wasn’t fair. We weren’t criminals. But they’d treated us like we were at every turn, and now more people out in the world believed it.

  Zach gently prodded the duffel bag Gina had tossed on the ground, opening the zipper a little bit. At the sight of the contents, he let out a long, drawn-out groan.

  “Seriously, Gina? Rye?” he said. “That’s the worst bread!”

  “It was slim pickings in the dumpster,” Gina retorted, tired but amused at his fake attitude. “Big surprise.”

  I glanced over the findings of their short scavenging trip. Dumpster diving definitely hadn’t been included in basic training at the Bureau.

  It looked like they’d had very little to work with. Unsurprising, considering our rude interruption. Mealy apples sat next to loaves of half-moldy rye bread. One bag of expired muffins appeared salvageable. I frowned, my worry growing. If we couldn’t manage to find decent food, hiding from the Bureau would become harder and harder, and eventually impossible. Healing bodies needed to eat, regardless of the fact that all our accounts would have been frozen the moment we became fugitives from the Bureau.

  We wound our way through the dense trees to the pickup site. No redbills. Oh, no. Please be here.

  Laini dropped noiselessly from somewhere high in the trees, her long dark hair trailing behind her, startling all
of us. She landed expertly on the ground in an effortless crouch. Of course, she’d given us no warning or sign of her hiding place. I had to appreciate her skill.

  “Judging from your faces, I take it things didn’t go well?” she said, quickly glancing us over. “The redbills were getting antsy. I had to take them deeper into the forest.”

  “That’s probably for the best, but now we need to get out of here, fast,” I informed her.

  She nodded and called to the redbills. A moment passed before the birds landed nearby. She gently waved to them. I climbed onto her bill while Gina helped Zach onto another. Bryce and Roxy took the third bird.

  The redbills chirped impatiently amongst themselves but went along peacefully enough. The birds took off on Laini’s trilling command.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the town as we left, my shoulders sinking with weary disappointment. So much for a successful mission. From here, it looked like the whole small town was on alert. All around the pointed shingled roofs and winding roads, blue and red lights flashed. Sirens rang out in the distance, thankfully quite far from our meeting point. The officers would likely be sweeping the area along the road in case we tried to escape by car.

  The flight back to the ski resort seemed shorter than our flight to the small mountain town. My body briefly relaxed as our hideout’s mountain came into view. After everything we’d been up to today, the sight of our bare-bones encampment felt just a little like coming home.

  And then Laini’s mouth twisted suddenly with worry, cutting into my short-lived relief. At almost the same time, her redbill bucked wildly and cried out in fear. My heart slammed against my chest. What could it be now? The other bills reacted in tandem, screeching horribly as they beat their wings, and our pace slowed to a crawl. It looked like they were attempting to stop flying toward the base.