“Don’t be so naïve,” Sumner snarled. “You know how Hargreaves treats people they see as incompetent – it’s a jungle. Dog eat dog, survival of the fittest. And you, in one afternoon, managed to completely destroy a career I’d spent twenty years building.”
Zina could well believe that. She hadn’t cared at the time – Sumner’s professional reputation had been thelastthing on her mind. He was the one who’d pushed Hargreaves into searching for the eggs in the first place, and then trying to hatch them and use the creatures’ powers. That was all he cared about – his own career, his own power. He didn’t see Goldie and Dusty as living beings – he only saw them as tools.
“So you decided to come out here to redeem yourself,” she muttered. “Get your reputation back.”
“You always were sharp, I’ll give you that,” Sumner said. “Yes – it’s my one chance. Hargreaves doesn’t usually give people second chances, so in a way, I’m very lucky. I was given all the resources I needed, and all the discretion. As you know, many people in Hargreaves never believed in my ideas about the eggs – they didn’t even think they’d hatch. But now, I can prove them wrong. Thanks to you.”
Involuntarily, Zina clutched at Goldie and Dusty even more closely. They weren’t moving much – perhaps, instinctively, they realized there was danger. Either way, they were staying where they were, close to her chest.
And please, just stay there a little bit longer.
“I won’t let you take them back to be used like that,” Zina spat. “I’ve outrun you so far – what makes you think I won’t outrun you again now?”
Sumner’s laugh echoed through the chamber. “Yououtranme? Is that what you think? Oh, Zina. I thought you were smarter than that. You didn’t outrun me – Iluredyou here. I decided I wasn’t going to take any more chances after that debacle at the river.”
Shock coursed through her, and Zina couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping open. “Wh-what?!”
“You didn’t think Hargreaves wasthatincompetent, did you?” Sumner continued, his amusement plain in his voice. “Finding this place – do youreallythink I would have allowed you to get into our systems so easily, once I knew what you were really capable of as a hacker? Zina, Zina… that was adecoy.A plant. This place isn’t Hargreaves’s mining operation. This is just some old, abandoned mine. I led you here. You’re here because it’sexactlywhere I wanted you to be.”
Zina stared into the darkness, her heartbeat thudding in her ears.
Instinctively, she knew it was all true. Hadn’t she wondered why everything was so easy? Hadn’t she been suspicious of how simple it had been to hack into Hargreaves’s system and discover the location of – she’d thought – their claim?
She closed her eyes, swallowing.
I should have listened to my instincts…
But she’d been blinded by her sense of urgency.
And now, Dusty and Goldie – and Quicksilver – are in danger.
She had to believe Trent would dig his way through to her soon, though. So far, Sumner had seemed more than happy to talk at her – maybe she could keep him talking for just a little while longer…
“Oh, and if you’re thinking about that lumbering oaf you call your mate, you can forget about help fromthatquarter. He will be dealt with shortly.”
Zina sucked in a shocked gasp. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about our friend so quickly. He gave you quite a scare back at that motel.”
The Bloodhound,Zina realized, with a chill in her gut. Clearly, the plan had been to separate her and Trent, and then have Sumner deal with her, and the Bloodhound with Trent.And I assume someone else is up there, dealing with Euan and Hector.
She didn’t have time to dwell on that now, however. Right now, she had to keep her wits about her, and just try to get herself out of this – or, failing that, get Goldie and Dusty to somewhere they’d be safe.
That’s not exactly going to be easy, however…
She had to get past Sumner. Even if this mine wasn’t Hargreaves’s actual operation, she assumed he’d had time to familiarize himself with it, while she’d been running about blindly.
Not to mention, I have two baby dragons I have to keep safe.
But right now, she didn’t see that she had much choice but to find a way.
For one thing, Sumner had finally emerged from the tunnel into a place where she could see him. He looked just as she remembered: a heavyset man with an appearance that belied the fact he was a scientist. He’d been a mercenary in his younger days, and taken up his interest in shifter genetics – and other, less savory things – later in life. So he wasn’t someone she could take lightly, despite the fact she was a highly trained field agent. And besides that…
Well, besides that, there’s the fact he’s pointing a gun at me,she thought, looking at it grimly where he held it out in front of him, trained on her.Would he really risk hitting the baby dragons, though?
She knew she didn’t exactly have the luxury of finding that out, however, as she dropped one of her arms from in front of her chest, pressing it against the wall behind her.
She also knew, as well, that she didn’t have the luxury of stalling for time until Trent broke through the wall of rubble. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but now that Sumner had stopped talking, she realized she couldn’t hear the sound of the hand-held excavator working away at the collapsed rubble anymore.
