And Jord, aka Zeb.
Shock grips the room for a heartbeat.
Then pandemonium explodes.
Someone slams the alarm. Amber lights flash across the ceiling. A shrillwhoop, whooperupts, reverberating through metal walls and bodies alike.
“Lockdown initiated… Lockdown initiated,”an electronic voice warbles in a loop.
People scream, stumble, and surge. Some run toward us, while others rush in a haphazard manner every which way.
Except me. I can’t move and I can’t breathe.
Zeb charges. The elevator doors start to close, and he leaves me here… trapped inside a small, confined space with two guards who may or may not be dead. And copious amounts of their blood.
No thank you!
I bolt forward, slipping through the gap just as the doors snap shut behind me.
Two Uncorrupted guards in exoskeletons slam into Zeb with bone-crunching force. Thewhirrof hydraulics cuts through the chaos inside the room. My stomach drops. That sound is one ofnightmares, and rarely something I get up close and personal with.
Blood drums in my ears. I duck sideways, flattening against the wall as they collide in a blur of violence right in front of me.
One exo-enhanced soldier wraps an arm around Zeb’s throat, hauling him back. The other slams blow after blow into his gut.
“Now would be a good time,” Zeb grits out, voice strangled with effort.
He twists, grunts, and drives an elbow into the ribs of the one choking him. The grip slips just enough. With a roar, he hauls the man up and over his head, then hurls him into the one in front of him.
Metal crashes against metal. Sparks fly. Both guards go down in a tangle of limbs.
Now?
Now…Shit! Now!
People are surging in a chaotic melee. The alarm is still whooping. The two downed guards find their feet and launch themselves at Zeb. I dive for cover, finally finding the presence of mind to do what needs to be done.
Zeb
A guard slams me into the closed elevator doors, making them buckle under the force. The other is fumbling for his lost immobilizer rod.
I get my fingers round the throat of the asshole who’s got me pinned. He pummels my ribs.
A wave of weakness hits me. I lose my grip on the asshole trying to crack my ribs, but his momentum falters too. We slideto the ground in a tangle of limbs. The bastard is on top of me. His exoskeleton makes him fucking heavy and I’m struggling to breathe. It takes a hot second to shut out the mind games coming from Esme’s.
Whatever she is doing to distract them is working.
I roll out from under the heavy fucker and rip out the power connector with my bare hands—not an easy feat. His cry is steeped in panic. They’re like downed turtles without the power.
I snap his neck. Stagger upright. My boot slams down on the side of the second guard’s skull, hard enough to make something crack. My ribs are screaming. Then I feel it—a hit to my back, sharp and electrical. Some other dick has just zapped me with an immobilizer rod.
Big mistake.
I whirl, rip the rod from his grip, dial it to full, and shove it straight into his gut. He screams like a fucking banshee and flails about. Around us, the room turns to chaos. Some captives are slumped unconscious, others giggling in a state of hysteria.
Time to take control.
“Esme, talk to me,” I bark, eyes sweeping for movement or threat. “Are you hurt?”
