Tremble (Denazen #3)(75)

Kale tugged me toward the door. “We have to live long enough to worry about it first, and that means getting out of this building in one piece.”

“That’s her!” a man shouted from the front of the room. Three additional agents burst into the room behind him, cutting off our escape.

I glared at Aubrey. “Is there anyone you didn’t invite to our little escape party?”

One of the agents pulled out what looked like a cross between a walkie-talkie and a cell phone. “They’re in the lab. I repeat. In the lab.”

“Why are we standing here?” I whispered with a nod toward the exit door. “Shouldn’t we, I dunno, make a break for it?”

Kale tensed. “Devin took the key. That door doesn’t open from the outside—or inside—without it. We’re trapped.”

I turned my attention back to the four agents by the door. The one in front with the walkie shook it then growled, tossing it to the ground. The electrical distraction Aubrey mentioned. That must be why it wasn’t working.

Three of the agents sprang forward in attack mode, while the fourth ran the other way. I had to stop him before he told anyone where we were or what we were doing. I darted after him, ignoring Kale’s screams to stop. The deck was stacked against us, but if every agent—and loyal Resident—in the building came down on us, we were as good as dead.

He was fast, making it up three flights of stairs and to the third floor landing with impressive speed. I had a hard time keeping up, but managed—barely. That was it. My mind was made up. When this was all over, I was going to take up running again.

I rounded the last corner on the third floor landing just as he disappeared through the door. The building had a weird setup. The stairs ended, but a small sign with an arrow directed me to a set of elevators. I burst through the door just as he reached the elevator at the other end of the hallway.

I kicked as hard as I could, urging my feet to carry me faster as smoke started filling the hall. Great. Now something was on fire? This just kept getting better and better. The elevator doors opened with an echoing ding and he slipped inside, furiously mashing the button on the wall. The doors started to close. I wasn’t going to make it.

With one last push, I propelled my body, kicking my legs forward and tilting back. I hit the ground, right hip first, sliding the rest of the way. Across Zendean’s pristinely polished floor—and into the elevator just as the doors whooshed shut.

Of course, now I was alone in a steel box with an armed man three times my size.





31


He laughed as I pulled myself upright. “Not exactly what I had in mind, but this works, too.”

“Don’t suppose I could talk you out of whatever you’re thinking, huh?”

He folded his arms and widened his grin. “You can try. I get a kick out of women begging me for things.”

Begging? What a frigging scumbag. “Sorry. I don’t beg.”

Without another word, he lunged for me as the elevator jerked upward. I managed to dodge him, but it wouldn’t last. There wasn’t a hell of a lot of room in here. He made another swipe, and I made another dodge. It probably would have gone on like that—back and forth until one of us finally got tired—but the elevator jolted to a stop, sending us both toppling to the floor.

“Oh,” I groaned, feeling a tiny bit queasy. “That can’t be good.” This was it. I finally understood Kale’s loathing for these things. I was never getting into another elevator for as long as I lived.

There was a horrible noise—a cross between a metallic crunch and an odd snapping sound. It was followed by the elevator whooshing into motion again—only this time it was in the wrong direction. Down.

And at about five times the normal speed.

I loved roller coasters. The thrill of soaring high above, inside and out, upside down, and sideways. It was the kind of crap I lived for. I’d done the free-fall ride at Great Adventure one year with Brandt. He’d hated it, keeling over promptly as our feet touched solid ground—but I’d been in heaven. As the elevator plummeted, I tried to remember what the appeal of it all was.

I managed to climb to my feet again just as the car came to a bone-jarring halt. Of course, the motion of the sudden stop brought me to the floor again. I made another attempt to stand, but the agent, pale-faced and determined, stumbled upright first and shoved me back, reaching toward the ceiling to knock out the emergency door. It clattered open and he wasted no time jumping and hefting himself up. I tried to grab his legs, but he kicked out, getting lucky—or so I told myself—and caught me in the side of the head.

Everything swam and I went down again as the elevator jerked into motion once more. Down. Stop. Down. Stop. I didn’t know how many floors the building had or exactly how high up we were—and I had no desire to find out.

Positioning myself beneath the hole, I stretched and kicked off the ground to reach the opening. It took me three tries, but I finally grabbed the edge and hauled myself to the top of the car. The agent was there, balanced precariously on the edge, trying to reach a metal bar that jutted several feet above his head. He was too short.

I peered over the side, hoping we’d stopped near a set of floor doors, but there was nothing for at least several feet. I could try dropping down to a ledge below, but there was a chance I wouldn’t have enough time to pry open the doors and slip through before the car started falling again. I didn’t relish the idea of getting crushed. Plus, there was a chance I could miss and plummet to my death.