As my team swept through the house, I was dragged down into its basement and then a garage. The armed men hauled me into the back of a black van, jumping in after me. Gunfire became a soft tapping somewhere above my head. I was jostled into the center of the mercenaries as Chen climbed into the passenger seat. Another merc took the driver's seat and started the engine. The sound of a metal door rattling open echoed like thunder as we sped off. I couldn't see where we went, but I did catch glimpses of a cement ceiling. Some kind of tunnel then.
“Search her!” Chen pointed at me.
The mercs grinned as they reached for me. I spent several eye rolling minutes getting groped before one of them declared that all I had on me was a ring. My purse was somewhere in that backroom, probably lying in Leshing's blood.
Chen took the ring and looked it over, a grimace sliding over his weasel face. He pulled something out of his pocket—a slender, black device. It powered on, then flashed when he tapped it against the ring.
“Very clever, Ms. Redding,” Chen said in English. He lowered his window and tossed the ring out. “C.I.A.?”
“Pardon?” I lifted my chin.
“Are you C.I.A.?” he repeated slowly.
“No. I've never been interested in cooking.”
He lifted his brows in response. “But you are with the United States Department of Defense?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“And you are a supernatural woman?”
“I think you know that already.”
“Indeed.” He grinned. “What exactly can you do?”
“You saw what I can do,” I huffed. “I can alter my appearance and I heal quickly.”
“A chameleon,” he murmured covetously. “Very rare. And healing abilities that function so rapidly are even rarer.”
He didn't know the half of it.
A roar came from somewhere behind us. Chen frowned. Another roar. No, two roars and the scrape of claws on cement. Bleiten aren't subtle when they hunt.
“That would be the sound of your death approaching,” I said smugly. “On wings.”
“Wings?” Chen whispered. Then he shouted at the driver in Mandarin, “Faster!”
We sped up. The sound of Bleiten roars became eerie, echoing off the walls. But then we were out of the tunnel, a black sky overhead and the shadows of trees looming around us.
“Shut the gate!” Chen ordered.
We sped off as—I assumed—a gate lowered. Seconds later, a metallic boom rocked the night. One of the mercenaries cursed. The driver kept glancing at his side mirror.
Chen hung out his window before declaring, “The gate's buckling. Get us to the helipad now!”
We rocketed forward, the van bumping on a gravel road, launching me into the air a few times. The booming sounds became distant. My stomach clenched.
“What did you drug me with?” I demanded.
“Shut the fuck up!” Chen snarled at me in English.
The van screeched to a stop and all its doors opened at once. I was dragged out and dumped on asphalt. Or perhaps tarmac. The mercs immediately lined up facing the road while Chen hauled me to my feet. He was barking orders in Mandarin. The driver ran ahead of him to a waiting helicopter and climbed in the pilot's seat. Huh, a man of many talents.
Chen shoved me toward the back. I headbutted him and started running for the road. Chen tackled me and as we tumbled, I scraped my skin, but I also felt the sting of a needle. Numbness crept over me. Paralyzing numbness. Panic surged through my body, but I took a calming breath. It probably wouldn't last long; I just had to wait it out.
Unfortunately, Chen was stronger than he looked. He lifted me and carried me back to the helicopter. I was tossed into the back just as feeling started to return to my body. I didn't move, didn't want to alert him to the fact that I was already processing whatever he'd injected me with. I'd wait until he was inside and we were rising, then I'd jump. The fall wouldn't kill me but it should buy Malik and Braxis enough time to reach me before Chen landed.
We lifted into the air, and I prepared to jump. Before I could, Chen shoved me down and looped a chain around the links connecting my handcuffs. He padlocked me to a ring in the floor. There went my jumping option. I told myself it would be okay; Malik and Braxis could fly. They'd come after us.
