Chapter 18
I didn’t dream about anything that night. And when I woke up, I wasn’t upset like I had been after Kade had left. Instead I was angry.
Right when I got out of my bed, there was a knock on my door and Bailey walked in. She looked cheery. But when she saw my expression, her eyes widened.
“Well, that’s a complete one-eighty from how you were feeling last night,” she said.
“I’m not upset anymore,” I said. “I’m pissed.”
“Well, that’s better than upset,” she said, laughing, trying to lighten the mood.
My mood wasn’t changing, though. “Much better,” I said. “Now aren’t we supposed to be getting ready for me to leave?”
“Yes, we are,” she said, and walked in the closet. I followed her inside.
She went over to the wall with the doors and opened a set up right in the middle. At first, all I saw was black as she pulled things out of the closet. She walked out and placed them on my bed.
“I’m betting this has to do something with Kade,” she said, turning toward me.
“Let’s just say he’d better not get in my way on this assignment,” I said. I pulled off my pajamas as she held up a black tank top for me. When I pulled it on, I noticed how low cut it was, something I could use something to my advantage.
“I’m guess this happened after I left last night,” she said.
“I had a little trouble getting my dress off,” I said.
“Oh,” she said, understanding. She handed me the black pants. “So that’s why he was pacing around his room last night.”
“You were in his room?” I asked, eyeing her.
“No, not in that way,” she said, her eyes widening at what I was saying. “I just…”
“Ugh, never mind,” I said.
“I’m sorry that I said anything,” she said, and handed me a leather jacket. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“No, I really don’t care,” I said. “Not anymore.”
I pulled on the jacket and zipped it up halfway. I turned around and caught my reflection in the mirror.
“Why am I in all leather?” I asked, mainly focused on the black leather pants. I didn’t realize what they were made of as I put them on, but now I saw. They were practically like a second skin.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But I do have to say I like the boots that they brought for you.”
“You haven’t given me any yet,” I said, turning back toward her.
“That’s what I was forgetting,” she said, and headed back into the closet. “Oh, and the others!”
“What others?” I asked.
She came out with a pair of leather high heel boots that would probably go up to my knees and a black box.
“Here, put these on while I get these ready,” she said, handing me the boots.
I sighed as I sat down and put on the first one. “They’ve got to be joking,” I said, stretching my leg out and looking at the five inch heels. “I can’t fight in these things.”
“Sure you can,” she said. “You can fight in anything.”
“Oh, yes, falling on people will put them in their place,” I said, standing up after I put the other one on.
“You won’t fall,” she said, laughing.
She walked over to me with was looked like a sheath for something. She knelt down next to me and put it around my left thigh. When stood back up, I reached down and pulled out what was in it.
“My knives,” I said, looking at one of them. It looked exactly the same as I remembered.
“They had them cleaned and polished,” she said. “They said that’s the only weapon that you ever really like to use.”
“They’re what I was trained with,” I said, putting the one back in the sheath.
I turned back toward the mirror to look at myself fully suited up. The leather jacket and pants fit me like a glove, showing off my every curve. The Directrix symbol was on the right sleeve of the jacket. The boot just tied it all together, though. And Bailey was right. I would be able to fight in them. They seemed strong enough to even stand up if I were to kick someone.
“There’s just one more thing,” Bailey said, and grabbing my necklace off the table next to the bed. She put it around my neck and stepped back to look at me. “There, now Kade should be really regretting doing whatever he did last night.”
My necklace tied everything together.
“I think I’m ready,” I said, looking back at her. “I hope you have a good two days off with whoever you’re going to see.”
“How’d you know about that?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“You must have forgotten that I can basically hear everything going on around me now,” I said, and walked out of my room, my heels tapping on the hardwood floors.
Just to test how the heels would work, I ran down the stairs at full speed. Right when I got down to the bottom, Slayter and Arianna were just walking to the front door. They didn’t see me coming until I was right there beside them.
“Oh, Rayney, you scared me,” Arianna said, her hand on her heart. She put her hand down and looked me over. “You look very…ready for a fight.”
I laughed. “I’m not the one who picked out the outfit, believe me,” I said. “It’s surprisingly well adapted for a fight, though.” I picked up my leg for her to see my boot. “Even the heels.”
“You’ll be a very stylish fighter,” she said, laughing.
Slayter’s eyes looked at my knives in their sheath on my thigh. “I see Bailey got your knives back from the cleaners,” he said. “We knew that those are what you’d rather fight with.”
“Yes, thank you,” I said. “I fight better with them.”
“We know,” he said. “We’ve seen you in action.” He opened the door. “Now, since you’re obviously ready, I’ll be taking you to the hangar off of Headquarters. That’s where you’ll be meeting everyone. Kade’s already down there with the Guards and everyone else, so we should be going.”
“Be safe, Rayney,” Arianna said, giving me a hug.
Once Slayter and I walked toward where they kept their cars, I noticed something else in the driveway.
“Can I take Kade’s bike?” I asked.
Slayter laughed. “Sure, but he might not be that happy about it,” he said.
“Oh, I don’t think he’ll mind,” I said, smiling.
“I guess I’ll meet you at Headquarters,” he said.
I walked over to Kade’s motorcycle and got on. I started it up, put it in gear and started down the driveway. Once I got on the main road, that’s when I went full speed. I was heading out of the housing area and into the main part of the City within a few minutes. Then Headquarters was right ahead of me.
I knew the hangar was off to the side of Headquarters so I veered to the right. When I saw it, there were doors opened so I drove the bike inside. The sound of the motor echoed off the metal of the hangar, making it very loud. When I neared the area where they kept some of the helicopters, I saw a group of about ten Guards near them. And then there was Kade, Roth, Orion, Fynn and Ace a little ways away from me.
Everyone was looking in my direction as I came to a smooth stop about ten feet in front of them.
“Thanks for letting me borrow it, Kade,” I said as I got off of it. I walked toward them and then stopped, crossing my arms over my chest and leaned my weight on one hip.
Kade and the others were all dressed the same. Leather Directrix jackets, black pants with multiple pockets and guns strapped to their thighs. They were all wearing similar expressions also as they looked at me.
“I think I’m dead,” Orion said, gaping.
Everyone else stayed silent, but then Kade broke it.
“Why did you take my bike?” he asked.
My eyes cut sharply toward him. “Because I wanted to,” I said. “Don’t worry. I didn’t hurt it at all.”
“I told her she could take it,” Slayter said, coming up behind me. He stood at my side. “If I knew she wasn’t capable of riding it over here, I wouldn’t have let her.”
“But I was capable,” I said, still staring daggers at Kade. “I’m capable of anything.”
“Right you are,” Slayter said. He turned toward the Guards, who had lined up when he’d come in. “Now, gentleman, you are under these three’s command. Obey what they tell you to or you’ll have to deal with their consequences, and then come back to deal with mine.”
“Yes, sir,” they all said in unison.
“You’ll be taking three helicopters to Division Four,” Slayter continued. “Five of you in two of them and they’ll take the third. Once you get to Division Four, Castillo and Meyers, you’ll be going with Rayney, as will Orion.”
“Yes,” I heard Orion say. I looked and saw Kade glaring at him.
“When you head back tomorrow, you’ll be in the trucks. The helicopters will be staying there for updates,” Slayter said.
He turned toward me and the others. “Have a safe trip,” he said, and then turned to leave.
Kade took over then, yelling for the Guards to get into their assigned helicopters. Roth, Orion, Fynn and Ace went to one, so I followed. Roth got in the copilot’s seat while Orion, Fynn and Ace got in the back. Orion was the still on the ground when I walked toward the helicopter.
“I’m not sitting by Kade,” I said.
“You don’t have to,” he said. “He’s flying the thing.”
“Oh, really?”
He nodded. “I’ll get in after you,” he said.
“Yeah, just so you can watch me get in,” I said. “Am I right?”
“Maybe just a little bit,” he said, holding up his thumb and forefinger an inch apart.
I rolled my eyes but got in, him jumping inside right after me. Kade was getting in the pilot’s seat at the same time I sat down in between Fynn and Orion. Fynn handed me a headset just as Kade started the helicopter up. It reminded me of the ones we had back at Division Sixteen, but Kade never flew them. I put on the headset and positioned the mouthpiece so I could speak.
“Since when can you fly a helicopter?” I asked Kade.
“Since I got here,” he said.
“Yeah, only after he almost crashed that one time,” Orion said.
“He blamed the person who was in the copilot’s seat,” Ace said, smiling.
“He was the one who overshot the landing,” Fynn said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I didn’t do a thing.”
“Sure you didn’t,” Orion said as he leaned over me to punch Fynn in the arm.
“You do know I can hear you, right?” Kade asked, looking back at us.
“Does it matter?” I asked, my eyes narrowing at him.
His eyes locked with mine for a second before he turned back. When I looked back at Orion, Ace and Fynn, they were all looking at me with their eyebrows raised.
“What?” I asked.
“It seems that yours and Kade’s personalities have switched overnight,” Ace said.
“Yeah, well, maybe they have,” I said, crossed my legs and stared out the front of the helicopter. It was kind of hard, seeing as Kade was right there, but I somehow managed it.
“So what’s this mission I’m going with you on?” Orion asked after about an hour of silence.
“Nothing too hard,” I said, shrugging. “I’ve just got to get rid of someone. You don’t have to do a thing. I don’t see why they’re sending you and two Guards with me. I’ll just be in and out.”
“Do you know where we’ll be going?” he asked.
“To some town between Divisions Four and Twelve,” I said.
“I’m sure Slayter will send the coordinates to Division Four,” Fynn said.
“He will,” Ace said.
When we were close to Division Four a few hours later, my interface turned on for some reason, even though I’d had it off since we’d left Headquarters. I had moved over to the other side of Orion, so I was right beside the window. I looked out and, after a second of looking out, my interface caught something, putting a green box around it and enlarging the image.
The helicopter looked familiar…and then I saw what was on the side. They seemed to spot us in the same moment, and then the side seemed to ripple, changing to the Directrix symbol. And then I knew exactly who they were.
I caught Roth looking in the same direction. He looked back at me and sent me a message. That’s them.
I only nodded and turned to look at Division Sixteen’s helicopter. They apparently didn’t listen to my warning. I knew Reagan had said that they were going anyway, but I didn’t want them going after Kade, just like Rowan wanted to do.
The helicopter started to lower and I saw that we were at Division Four. When I looked toward the ground, there were about five Guards standing there waiting. There was also a huge truck that looked like the ones the army used to use. It was huge and black with spotlights on the front of it and tinted windows.
Once Kade landed – despite Orion, Fynn and Ace’s jokes about crashing – we all got out and started toward where all of the Guards were standing, lined up and waiting for orders.
“Castillo and Meyers,” I said, looking at the Guards. Two Guards near the right end of the line stepped out. They were both pretty big and had their guns strapped to their backs. “Get the truck ready. Orion and I will be there shortly.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said, and started for the truck.
I turned to Orion. “You can go get the coordinates,” I said.
“That should be easy,” he said, and walked toward one of the Guards who had been there before we landed. “Did Slayter send coordinates?”
“They’re already programmed in the GPS in the truck,” one of them said.
“Good,” Orion said, and turned back to me with a smile. “Looks like we’re ready to go.”
I walked over to the truck. The two Guards, Castillo and Meyers, were already in the front. Orion opened the other door and got in, me after him.
“The coordinates are already programmed in,” I told Castillo, who was in the drivers’ seat. “Let’s go.”
He started to drive off from Division Four and we were soon on a dirt road in the forest. He drove faster as we headed farther away. Everything was quiet except for the roar of the engine.
“So,” Orion said, turning to look at me in the leather seat. “What’s up with you and Kade?”
“Nothing,” I said, and looked out the window.
“Okay, that’s not true at all,” he said, laughing. “Something must have happened between when you left from the gala and this morning when you apparently stole Kade’s bike to get to Headquarters.”
“I did not steal his bike,” I said, looking at him with narrowed eyes. “I got permission from Slayter. He seemed to be higher up than Kade is, so I’ll go by his word.”
He laughed. “Yeah, there something going on there,” he said, and turned to look back out the window.
Just as I started mumbling about how immature and stupid he was, I looked out my window again and saw what I’d see only a few minutes before. It was the Division Sixteen helicopter. I quickly switched my interface back on and zoomed in to have a closer look.
The blades were just powering down and the back door was opening up. I held my breath as I saw Rowan, Nash, Xander, Dane and Adem jump out the back. Luke and Eli got out after they did. There everyone was, in the flesh and not on my screen or in my dreams, the way I’d had to see them.
They stood there for a second, talking, but then walked around the helicopter and into the woods.
“We’re almost there,” Castillo said from the drivers’ seat. “We’re going to have to take a longer way around because there’s a river that runs straight through where we were going to go. We’re going to have to go about another two miles before we get to the bridge so we can cross over it.”
“Alright, just go as fast as you can,” I said, still looking out the window at Rowan and the others. They were just disappearing into the trees.
“We’ll be at the bridge in about five minutes,” he said.
The five minutes seemed to pass quick, only feeling like mire seconds, and we were crossing over the bridge. Castillo sped up on the dirt road, and before I knew it, the trees were thinning until I could see a few of the houses in the town.
“Stop right where the trees end,” I said to him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and came to a stop.
Before we got out, we all heard a few screams and saw people running into the small houses, locking the doors behind then, even though they knew that wouldn’t help. But I was only out for one person, and I knew exactly where he’d be.
“I’ll go in his house,” I said. “Orion, you’ll come with me, Castillo, stand by the truck and Meyers make rounds while I’m inside. And please don’t kill anyone. We’ve only come for one person, not all of them.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Castillo and Meyers said.
We got out of the truck and started down toward where I knew Keenan’s house was.
“You look like you know where you’re going,” Orion said.
“I do,” I said, and continued forward.
I couldn’t ignore the pounding hearts I could hear everywhere around me from the people who were trying to hide. I had to admit, my heart was pounding also.
I heard a gasp as we neared Keenan’s house. “Rayney,” someone whispered.
I immediately stopped and looked around. When I looked toward the side of the house, I saw a flash of clothing as someone darted out of view.
“Rowan, hush,” someone else whispered. It was Nash.
“She’s right there, though,” Rowan whispered again.
“That’s not her,” another whispered. Xander.
“Yes, it is. She’s alive. She’s…”
“She’s not the same,” Nash whispered.
“Rayney,” Orion said from beside me. “You okay?”
“Yes,” I said. He hadn’t heard any of this. “Now, where were we?”
I walked forward and up to the door of Keenan’s house, ignoring the whispers I could still hear. I put my hand on the handle, but of course, it was locked.
“Do you want me to get it?” Orion asked.
“Nope, I’ve got it,” I said, and stepped back. I saw out of the corner of my eye Rowan, Nash and Xander peek around the corner of the house as I kicked in the door, splintering the wood from the outside in. I looked toward Orion, who had his back to the three of them. They quickly went back behind when they saw me turn toward them.
I turned back and walked inside. No one was there, not that I was expecting anyone to out in the open. I looked around the room, and then went to sit in one of the chairs that were around the table. Two of them had fallen over, probably because they knew we had come. I could hear a heartbeat pretty close by, just behind the door leading to the back room.
“Come on out, Keenan,” I yelled. I grabbed one of my knives from their sheath and started carving patterns into the wooden table.
The doorknob twisted and the door opened. Keenan walked out slowly and I smiled up at him.
“Well, it’s been a long time,” I said, smiling.
“They said you were killed,” he said, not even bothering with a hello.
“I was,” I said. “Not so much anymore.”
“How?” he asked.
“I think you already know the answer to that question, seeing is that you, Luke and the others were discussing it the last time I’d been here,” I said.
“So they made you like Roth,” he said.
“Yep, but I’m a little more advanced than he is,” I said. “Now, you know some things that you shouldn’t, am I right?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, sitting down at the table opposite of me.
I carved my tattoo into the wood. “Slayter didn’t give me that many details as to what you know,” I said. “I was only given my assignment.”
“You’re here to get rid of me,” he said, twining his fingers together on the table.
“How did you know?” I asked innocently, but I wasn’t prepared for his answer.
“Rowan, Luke, and the others intercepted the command. They just didn’t know who they were sending to do it,” he said. “You can do it right now if you’d like.”
“I’d rather chat with you some more,” I said.
He just sat there looking at me. I locked eyes with him for just a moment and then my interface turned on again. But instead of a green box going around his face, it was red.
“Huh, that’s different,” I said.
“What?” he asked.
“Your box around your face is red,” I said, and then saw something beside it. “And it says ‘target’ beside it.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “I can see the red line in your eye,” he said. “That’s the interface?”
“Yep, and it comes quite in handy,” I said.
“What about the tattoo?” he asked.
“Now, I can’t give you all my secrets, can I?” I asked.
I stood up, my knife tight in my grip, and walked toward him.
“Orion,” I said as I came around back of Keenan. “Go get Meyers and go back to the truck. Tell Castillo I won’t be much longer.”
“Alright,” Orion said from the doorway, and then turned to walk out.
“Now,” I said, leaning in close to Keenan. I had my knife raised and close to his back, right behind his heart. “It’s been a pleasure seeing you again.”
“You, too, Rayney,” he said quietly.
I took hold of his shoulder and jammed my knife his back at the same time. I heard his heart sputter once, and then stop as I pulled my knife out. He slumped to the floor and I leaned over and wiped his blood off my knife on his shirt. I stood up straighter, stepped over his body and made my way toward the door.
But when I was about twenty feet away from the house I just came out of, I heard someone come out and pull a trigger.
I stopped just as I felt a pain in the back of my head. And then I could feel the same on my forehead. It only lasted for a moment as I felt myself heal within the second. I rolled my neck and turned to look at who had shot me.
“Oh, Dominic, it’s you,” I said, and started walking back toward him.
He loaded the gun again and pointed. But right when he pulled the trigger, I ducked and, once I knew the bullet had passed me, I ran up to him so fast he stumbled back when I was suddenly right there in his face.
“Now, why’d you do that?” I asked.
“Because you deserve it,” he said through his teeth.
“You know I could kill you just like I kill him, right?” I asked. My arm struck out and I had him by the throat. “I’m not in the mood for killing anyone else right now, but I will make an exception.”
“Rayney,” Orion called. “They want us back at the Division.”
“Going ahead and start going back,” I yelled back, my eyes still locked on Dominic. “I’ll catch up.”
I heard him sigh. “Castillo, Meyers, let’s go,” he said.
I heard the doors to the truck slam shut, and then the engine started up and they started back toward Division Four.
“Now, are you going to shot me again or have you realized that I can’t be hurt?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, though, because his eyes said it all. They were so filled with anger and hate for me that I was having a hard time looking at him. I kept eye contact, though.
“I’m going to take that as a no, you’re not going to shot me anymore,” I said, and let go of him.
I turned from him and started back toward where the truck was headed. It wasn’t that far away, so I started running at full speed. I was able to catch up with it within a few seconds, so I jumped up, twisted through the air and landed on top of it in a crouch. I looked back at Dominic and the few people who braved coming out of their houses. Abrielle and Milla were some of them. They both had tears in their eyes.
I raised my hand and waved, a smile on my face. I turned and tapped on the moon roof. I saw Orion look up and smile. He opened it and I jumped down, landing on the seat beside him. He reached up and hit the button to close it.
“That was a very graceful entrance,” he said, laughing. “I like how you flipped through the air and landed on the roof.”
But I didn’t answer him. All I could do was stare out the window as the trees passed. I didn’t know what I was feeling, but I knew that I didn’t like it one bit. I could still hear people yelling from behind us. It wasn’t until we were a few miles away that I couldn’t hear them anymore.