The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(72)

—

A large round portal bloomed on the wall near Rebel. A tall figure emerged from the whiteness. She was a young woman of Indian descent, as slender and pretty as Amanda. Her hair hung in a braid that extended all the way down the back of her black nylon bodysuit.

Her dark eyes popped at the sight of Rebel. “Oh no! Richard!”

Ilavarasi Sunder was the only one who called him by his real name. As his match, his mate, it was her prerogative. He simply called her Ivy. They all did.

A second figure stepped through the gateway. Gemma Sunder was a slip of a girl, barely five feet tall. She wore a sleeveless silk blouse over a black leather miniskirt, plus a garish amount of makeup. Her appearance was pure defensive strategy, a way to minimize the fact that she was technically ten years old.

Upon seeing Rebel’s unconscious frame, Gemma crossed her arms and scowled. “I warned him. I told him the breachers were fast learners.”

Ivy glared at her niece. “I don’t have time for your attitude. Just give me the picture.”

“Working on it.”

Once the MacDougals stepped through the portal, Ivy closed it shut. The redheaded brothers were short and stocky, and utterly indistinguishable from each other except for the color of their tracksuits.

The twins helped Ivy roll Rebel onto his back. She screamed when she saw his withered hand.

“Oh God, he’s been rifted!”

“He’ll be okay,” Gemma said. “He won’t—”

The girl’s head suddenly jerked back as if she just woke up from a nap. She looked to the stairwell in hot alarm.

“They’re getting into a van. Right now. They’re leaving and they’re not coming back.”

“Damn it!” Ivy shot to her feet, then pushed the MacDougals to the stairs. “Go!”

The brother in green pointed to his concerned face, then the ceiling.

“Forget the cameras!” Ivy yelled. “Just go! Stop them! Kill as many as you can!”

—

The weather inside Mia’s head was wet and foggy. She could barely hold a thought as she watched her friends in action. While Zack hurried around to the driver’s side of the van, David helped Amanda load Czerny’s stretcher into the back. Hannah stayed to the side with Theo, propping up his wounded arm as he kept a nervous eye on the lobby. Everyone seemed to have a task. Mia could only clutch her journal and ponder Krista Bloom, a woman who didn’t seem particularly crazy or evil. Why did she want them dead? Why did she make it sound so crucial?

She noticed Erin’s boots on the other side of the van and mindlessly moved toward them.

“Mia! No!”

With a burst of speed, Hannah blocked her way. “You don’t want to see that. She’s . . . gone.”

“But that’s Erin.”

“I know. I know it is. But if you see her like that, that’s all you’re going to see whenever you think of her. Please trust me.”

Mia idly reached behind her head, to the fading braids that Erin had tied six hours ago. She bit her lip to keep from crying.

David poked his head out the back doors. “Ladies, we need to go.”

“I need someone up front with me,” Zack yelled.

Hannah moved to the passenger door and climbed inside. She saw Zack fumble the key ring with shaking hands. For him, there was no avoiding the sight of Erin Salgado. He had to step over her bisected corpse to enter the van.

The actress put a calming hand on his arm. He looked at her. “You saw her.”

She grimly nodded. Zack suppressed the mad screaming fit that had been eluding him since day one.

“Goddamn it. Goddamn it.”

David tapped on the metal mesh that separated the front seats from the back. “Dr. Czerny says the hospital’s not far. Make a left at the front gate, then keep going for two miles.”

“Okay.”

Hannah spotted rapid movement through the lobby windows. “Oh no . . .”

David pressed against the grate. “Two more are coming this way, Zack! We need to go!”

“I’m trying!”

The Salgado family had three vans, four cars, and two motorcycles between them. All keys were present, and none seemed to fit the ignition.

The front doors of the building swung open. A pair of stout, red-haired twins stepped outside. They fixed their stoic gazes on the Silvers.

Hannah cocked her head at them. “Why are they just standing there?”

The MacDougals each raised their outer arm, aiming an open palm at the van.

Theo went pale. “Shit. I don’t like this . . .”

Zack jabbed another key at the ignition. “What? What are they doing?”

A loud metallic squeal filled the van. Suddenly the passenger-side windows turned cloudy and cracked.

Hannah looked up at the creaking roof. “Are they crushing us?”

Amanda rooted through the first aid kit, struggling to stay focused on her task. Czerny’s skin had turned cool and clammy. He’d lost too much blood. He was slipping into shock.

Mia kept her tense gaze on her. “Amanda, you have to promise me you won’t leave this van.”

“What?”

“I got a note—”

“David, keep Theo’s arm raised!” Amanda lifted Czerny’s legs to push circulation. She glared at Zack through the grate. “Would you start the damn van already?”