The crowd of people closed ranks and Declan disappeared within them. People rushed to leave the room, what terminals Sean hadn’t ruined still up and running, but with a self-destruct failsafe having been triggered. Sean swore when he realized they probably wouldn’t get much information out of the business’ slagged servers. He only hoped the MDF had managed to hack their way in before the countdown to pull something—anything—from the files to reinforce theirinvestigation.
We’re losing data,Sean warned as he stepped out of the table, intent on following Declan.They’re getting cargo andleaving.
Stay on them, but be careful,Katie ordered, sounding distant andoccupied.
Cargo could have meant any number of things—from armament to Splice. Sean needed to get eyes on it. He phased through a couple more terminals on his way out of the makeshift war room. He phased through the door in time to see a straggler adhere a device to the wall before racing after his fellow fighters. Sean didn’t need to get close to recognize the demolitions device for whatitwas.
They’re setting bombs,Sean said, straining to get Katie’s attention.I think they’re going to blow the facility. Get everyone to clearthearea.
That was definitely one way to disrupt communications and destroyevidence.
The timer was counting down from five minutes. That wasn’t enough time for everyone below to get aboveground and out of the building, especially if they’d planted more explosives throughout thefacility.
Sean knew the right decision would be to leave, to phase back up through all the levels for the surface, and make a run for it. But if they were going to lose a wealth of evidence to destruction, he was going to try his hardest to save someofit.
Which meant followingDeclan.
Sean ran after the group of men and women dedicated to Declan more than to their country. This sublevel had a snaking hallway with a few too many 90-degree turns that cut away from the main facility. He passed quite a few bombs plastered to the wall, their red numbers counting down theseconds.
Viper!Sean mentally shouted asheran.
His lungs were burning when Katie finally focused on him.I heard you. I’ve warned all team leaders and we’re pulling back. Get out of there, Wraith. That’s anorder.
I need to get eyes on theircargo.
You need to get your ass back to the surface and out of theblastzone.
I’llbefine.
Wraith, I’m notkidding—
The sound of a child screaming in fear stole Sean’s attention. He rounded the last sharp corner and phased through a pair of fighters who tried, once again, to stop him with a neuro-jammer RPG. The bolt of energy passed harmlessly through him. Sean didn’t stop his headlong run into the space they wereguarding.
Sean didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t a vertical launch hangar carved into the earth. Brightly lit, and big enough to house two combat jets, Sean’s attention was caught not on the primed-to-open roof coverings, but on the enclosed metal crate two of Declan’s people were hauling into the closest jet. The screaming was coming from there, a disjointed, raw sound that set Sean’s teethonedge.
“Get in the air!” someonebellowed.
The warning sirens pierced the hangar as high above the doors began to fold open. Sean ran for the jet with the cargo Declan wanted to ferry out of there. Bullets peppered the air all around him as Sean moved up the ramp and dove into thecrate.
He heard the crackling pop of the electronic lock frying and going dead. The crate door swung open as the jet jerked from the engines starting. Enough light filtered inside for Sean to see the tear-streaked face of a young girl, maybe no older than ten. The Faraday cage wrapped tightly around her skull was almost too big for her, and her hands were cuffed behindherback.
Declan’s cargo was achild.
An incandescent fury thrummed through Sean at the thought of Declan and Valerie Hayes terrorizing innocent people with Splice until they managed to beat the odds and gain a metahuman. Sean didn’t want to think about the number of people who must have died so this poor child’s life could be irrevocablychanged.
“I’m here to help,” Seanpromisedher.
He solidified his hands for a few seconds, long enough to grab her firmly by the upper arms and push his phase power into her. The moment his phase field pushed through the Faraday cage, the electronic shackle sparked and fried before falling through her too-thin body. The second it was no longer attached to her skull, images bombarded Sean’s mind with a rapidness that instantly madehimsick.
The effects of a Faraday cage were more easily and quickly shaken off than the devastating effects of a neuro-jammer gun. Under normal circumstances, it should have taken a good few minutes to get her mind reoriented enough to use her power. Fear and adrenaline moved thattimelineup.
She fought him, but Sean didn’t let her go, even when they sank through the crate and the deck of the jet. His mind jumped through a flurry of places, looking out of too many eyes at dinner, at a movie, at coffee, at a lover, at files, at avictim,at—
The seemingly never-ending searing flash of images cut off, leaving Sean lightheaded and sprawled beneath the jet with the child in his grip, both of them half-sinking into theground.
I have you, Wraith,Katie said into his mind in a strainedvoice.
What was that?he asked, thinking the words slowly through the heavy ache in his head. It felt like someone had taken an ice pick and slammed it over and over into hisskull.
