Undiscovered (Unremembered #1.5)(15)

I prayed it was the last time she’d ever have to do it.

“Every day,” I promised her, and then I brought my lips to hers.





12: Escape


Seraphina didn’t need to scale the wall. She cleared it in a single running leap, sailing over the crest as gracefully as the hawk in our digital projection. I’d already seen her do impossible things, and this was further evidence that she was more than human. That they had turned her into something else. Something that might have frightened me at one point before. But now I just wanted to be with her. To protect her.

I had this distinct feeling that everything I’d ever done—every system I’d ever hacked, every fingerprint I’d ever lifted, every gadget I’d ever built—was all leading up to this moment.

When she landed softly on the other side, we started to run. In the open space, she was faster than anything I’d ever seen. She surged ahead of me countless times and turned back, confusion etched into her flawless features. She couldn’t understand why I was so much slower.

She didn’t even know her own abilities.

I wasn’t surprised. Why would they tell her? Why would they let her know that she had the power to destroy them with a flick of her finger?

As I struggled to keep up, I made a vow to myself. If anything went wrong, I would let her go. I would urge her to keep running. I would let myself be caught if it meant she was able to escape.

I would put her first. Always.

They could never hurt me the way they’d already hurt her. The way they would continue to hurt her. If she stayed.

We reached the northwest gate ten minutes later. I fell to my belly and signaled Sera to do the same. I was drenched in sweat and panting for breath. Sera looked the same as she had when we’d left, no outward signs of fatigue or exertion.

I was in awe of her.

I wanted to kiss her again. Kiss her until I couldn’t breathe.

But I reminded myself that now was not the time. There would be plenty of time for kissing when we were safe.

When she was safe.

“Sera,” I whispered as softly as I could, knowing she could hear me even if I were a mile away. “This is important. No matter what happens out there, if I tell you to run away from me, you have to do it. You can’t hesitate. You have to go. Do you understand that?”

Her mouth tugged into a frown, and she started to protest.

“No,” I said, stopping her. “Tell me you understand. I can’t help you unless you understand this. If I say run, you run. You don’t look back. You don’t wait for me.”

“What if I get lost?”

“I will find you,” I swore to her. “No matter where you end up, no matter how long it takes, I will find you.”

Finally she nodded.

I pulled my slate from my pocket and unrolled it. Klo had been able to grant me two hours of undetected access to the Intelligence Command Center systems. Director Raze’s top-notch security system. A loop, Klo had called it. His finest work yet. The hack created a circular reference so if anyone tried to follow the breach, it would just lead them around in a dizzying circle.

I hadn’t told him what it was for, and he hadn’t asked.

I think on some level he knew I wouldn’t have answered truthfully anyway.

I would miss Klo. I would miss all of them. Even Xaria. But it was a sacrifice I was willing to make for her.

The security logs listed the scheduled departure of a transport van in three minutes. Most likely it had come to deliver lab supplies to the various sectors in the compound. I couldn’t care less what the van was carrying as long as it was leaving.

I checked the clock on my slate—2:13—and glanced out at the main road that led through the compound. I could see the van drifting back toward the gate.

I knew everything would have to be perfectly timed for the rest of this plan to work.

I opened up a new panel on my slate, punched in a code, and hovered my finger over the small green Initiate button.

The van stopped at the gate, and the agent exited the security booth. Per the usual protocol, the van’s back door swung open and the agent pointed a sensor inside, searching for anything breathing, or with a Diotech asset chip stored inside.

When the sweep came back clean, the agent returned to the booth.

I jammed my finger down on the Initiate button and a thunderous BOOM! echoed from the nearby Medical Sector, followed by smoke that slipped into the air like a slithering snake.

After countless Freedom Fighters’ missions on this compound, I’d learned the secret to getting past Director’s Raze’s task force.

Distraction.

This one was harmless. Just a vapor bomb I’d set the night before. But it was enough to draw attention.

I watched the guard glance up from his screen and peer inquisitively toward the building, knowing he was not allowed to leave his post.

A few taps on my slate would solve that problem.

I opened another panel and accessed the alert system. I sent the orders to the screens inside the security booth. A moment later, every armed guard in the sector was running toward the Medical Sector.

As soon as the posts were abandoned, I sent the signal to scramble the feeds from the forty DigiCams installed around the gate and the twenty additional HoverCams reported to be in the area.

I rolled up the slate, pocketed it, and looked to Seraphina. “Are you ready?”