I took a step back, trying to put some distance between him and me, my heart picking up by several beats.
“What’s that?” I asked, keeping his attention trained on me as I took still another step away from him, hoping he’d stay right where he was.
From where she was on the ground, Griffin muttered something about son-of-a-bitch, but both of us were ignoring her now as Agent Truman or Dr. Bennett or whatever the heck his name was concentrated on me, and I concentrated solely on creating distance between me and that gun in his hand.
“The information in those files you stole.”
It was his one big mistake, reminding me how different I was from the rest of them. In all the chaos, I’d nearly forgotten my worth, even if it was only as a science experiment.
I stopped backing away and lifted my chin. “You won’t do it,” I challenged. “I’m the one you’re after. I’m the one you’ve been after all this time.”
He flashed his teeth, and just like that he was the polar bear and I was a three-year-old girl. “Makes no difference to me.” His words hung there for a minute before he pushed on, “We have another one, just like you. Picked him up a couple hours from here.” His brows rose challengingly, his forehead bunching up. “Funny thing is, after running some tests, you know the ones, kid healed just as fast as you . . . maybe faster. Bet he can do all kindsa crazy shit, that one.”
Hearing him talk about Alex Walker that way turned my stomach.
I nodded then. Not at Agent Truman, but at the person waiting behind him. The one I’d really been backing away from this entire time.
When Willow swung the bat she’d been holding, I heard it whistle through the air. And when it struck the side of Agent Truman’s head, there was a moment when I thought I might actually lose my lunch. I had to keep reminding myself he could heal . . . even if, like he said, it was slower than the rest of us.
I hoped he hadn’t lied about that other part, though, and that it hurt him like a mother.
I kind of envied Willow’s power. I’d always been more of a line drive hitter.
She only struck him once, but it was more than enough. The bat made this disgusting sound as a fine spray of blood filled the air, and a look of sheer horror passed over Agent Truman’s face. He blinked once, and only once, and then his eyes rolled all the way back in his head before he dropped forward, falling heavily on his knees and then landing face-first in the sand.
“It was my turn to save you.” Willow beamed, shouldering the bat.
Griffin was already scrambling to her feet, gasping and cringing because the wounds on each of her shoulders were beginning to pucker around the edges. It had to sting like you-know-what.
She tugged my arm. “Simon and Tyler are waiting for you at the Jeep, out in front of the camp.” She turned to Willow then as she sucked in a breath through her clenched teeth. “You take her. I’ll stay here and handle . . . this.” Her gaze moved to her father—Agent Truman—who was still lying blacked out in the dirt. She reached out and nudged him with her boot. “Go!” she hissed at us. “I mean it. Go, before the old man wakes up.”
I didn’t wait to be told again, and I didn’t look back. Griffin could handle her father, the agent-slash-doctor, I had no doubt about that.
Then Willow and I were literally dodging bullets as we made our way through the tent maze. Willow knew exactly when to zig and when to zag, and she got us through the chaos not only unscathed but also unnoticed, and suddenly I was even more impressed by her, glad she was on our side.
When I saw Tyler, though, I nearly gave up on that whole not-crying-in-front-of-others thing. I thought I’d be the only one feeling panicked, but the strain across his forehead told me he was at least as worried about me.
His brow crumpled when he saw me, and before I could run to meet him, Willow grabbed my arm. She used her own body to shield me as she dragged me across the last stretch of open ground to where Tyler was waiting to meet us.
When I felt his arms go around me, and his lips against my forehead, I had a hard time stopping the words I love you from bubbling up my throat.
“I need to get you two out of here without anyone seeing us,” Simon insisted, jumping into the Jeep and firing up the engine.
I didn’t get the chance to thank Willow for saving my butt, because when I turned around again, she was gone.
“Where are we going?” I asked Simon as Tyler and I climbed into the Jeep behind him.
“Buckle up, keep your head low, and try not to distract me. I’ll do my best not to get you killed,” Simon told us as he pushed the vehicle into gear and spewed a cloud of dust in our wake. “We only have an hour to get to the designated meeting point. If we’re late, we miss our chance. And if we get caught, we’re dead.”
And with that, I felt Tyler reach for me from the backseat. I let him take my hand, gripping his in return as the wind battered us while we raced across the desert.
CHAPTER TWENTY
SWEAT TRICKLED DOWN THE BACK OF MY NECK as we hurtled along the two-lane highway.
Every now and then, even from the distance we’d put between us and Blackwater, we’d hear, and feel, an explosion so loud it rocked the ground beneath us, making the Jeep shudder as it coursed along the plane of the asphalt. Acid burned in the back of my throat as I worried about everyone who was still there, back at the camp—Jett and Willow, who’d stuck with me even though I’d never really declared myself one of them, and Griffin and her people, who were now fighting our fight.