No.Oh, no.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.“Why?All that, just for me?”
“I doubt you were more than a secondary objective.”Henderson glanced at the small, ragged group.
Boomer.Eleanor.Bobby.Emily, whose round face was terribly pale, a bandage glaring white around her head.A tall thin young man with his arm in a sling.She dredged up his name—Eric.Tamara, one of Lyle’s team, red hair caked with mud and her face covered in dried blood, eyes terribly shocked.Garth, another one of Lyle’s team, his arm around Tamara’s shoulders, wincing whenever he took a deep breath.And last of all, little Melissa, eyes wide as she held Bobby’s hand, blonde hair in two pigtails falling down her back.
And Henderson’s Brigade.Minus one.
They were in a small stand of pine trees, full of clean fragrance.The chill wind after the tunnel confines was like heaven, no matter that her teeth almost immediately began chattering.Yoshi curled his hand around her upper arm and peered at her face.“General?She’s going into shock.”
Zeke slid his leather jacket off, draping it over Rowan’s coat.She blinked at him gratefully.
“All right,” Henderson said.“We’ve got to get out of here.Can everyone walk?”
Murmurs of assent.
“Brew?Which way to the road?We’ll parallel, come into town, get some shelter, and send someone for a cache.”Henderson started giving orders.
Rowan simply stared at the yawning hole that was the end of the transport tunnel.Any moment she expected to see him emerge, maybe bloody but still alive, his dark eyes meeting hers as they always did.
I never even told him…She shivered harder.
“Rowan?”Henderson was right next to her.Cath and Zeke pushed the round metal door closed.Yoshi lay his hand over the keypad, his eyes closing and a small sound of effort escaping his lips.Electricity crackled.Rowan suddenly understood—he was scrambling the lock.
She stared up, at Henderson’s lined face.“He’s not coming, is he?”
“Don’t underestimate him,” the General replied softly.“If there’s a way, he’ll come back to you.Fine work, keeping them off us.Good job, operative.”
Bile rose in Rowan’s throat.She hadn’t done anything but screw up.She hadn’t realized it was a trap until too late, the combined weight of the Sigma psychics rendering her blind and deaf.She’d failed, just when it counted most.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Henderson said.“It will poison you.And I need you if I’m going to get everybody out of this.”
“You don’t?—”
He shook his head, laying a finger to his lips.
Rowan shut up.
“Right.Let’s move out.Everyone pick a partner and buddy up.Brew, Yoshi, you two take Rowan.If she starts fading give her a glucose tab and call a rest stop.Cath, Zeke, take the kids.Quiet and quick as we can now.”
Moments later, the small stand of pines was empty.
CHAPTERFORTY-ONE
Consciousness.Fuzzy, fading.Restraints.Wrist, elbow, knees, ankles, boots bound together, gag in the mouth.Blindfold.Arms twisted behind his back savagely.
First thought:They must have a high opinion of me.
Second thought:Rowan.Did she get out?
He wished he had even a quarter of her talent, so he could tell for sure.Lay perfectly still, trussed up, arm bent uncomfortably underneath, his back strained.He was on something hard and cold, metal.Thrumming metal.
A chopper.
“He’s awake.”A familiar, whistling voice.
Jilssen.
