Anarchy (Hive Trilogy, #2)(64)

My eyes were pinned to the exit sign hanging over the door.

The walkie crackled and Sam sounded resigned. “No, I’ve been blocked. I can no longer access any of the Hive controls.”

Lucas cussed and his eyes met mine. “I have a crazy idea, Charlie. Are you with me?”

You know, a year ago I loved crazy ideas, because they mostly involved Tessa daring me to down a bottle of tequila. Now … not so much.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve had enough crazy to last me a lifetime.”

Lucas gave me a resigned grin, before sighing and taking my hand. “It’s the only way,” he said, sounding almost like he was trying to convince himself.

Walking up one flight of stairs to the second level, he brought me to a door I had never noticed before. Opening it revealed a golden elevator door. For reals? How many secret Batman lair elevators were in this place?

“Special Quorum elevator,” he said. “I doubt they have had time to revoke my fingerprint clearance with the strikes going on.”

He pressed his thumb to a button and it glowed green. The door slid open.

The Hive was definitely filled with secrets. “Strikes?”

He didn’t answer as we entered the elevator. I blinked a few times as he hit the button for the roof. How could we escape from the roof?

“Since Ryder and his core enforcer team have been suspended, the other ash enforcers have gone on strike. They refuse to take orders from anyone but Ryder. It’s keeping the Quorum awfully busy.”

My throat tightened with emotion and I felt horrible that we would be leaving all of these helpless ash behind. Hopefully I’d live long enough to try and change their circumstances.

The Quorum’s private elevator was a speed demon, and in what felt like seconds it was opening up to a secluded section of the roof, an area I had never been before.

I turned to Lucas. “Where is the helicopter?”

Because surely he had one waiting for me? There was no other reasonable explanation for taking us up to the very place it was impossible to escape from. A veritable trap if we were discovered.

Lucas grabbed my arm and steered me out onto the roof, hurrying us across to the edge. He grabbed the walkie from me and radioed the boys. “I’m on the roof with Charlie. Security will have seen us by now. She’s going to have to jump.”

I gasped. The vamp had flipped his lid—lost his freakin’ marbles. Dude was officially crazy.

“Lucas, are you insane? I’m not jumping off a sixty story building! My body will turn into pudding. I don’t want to be pudding. I hate pudding. It’s weird and jiggly and tastes like crap.”

Ryder’s voice came over the speaker. “Charlie you’re not just any ash. You’re Carter’s daughter.”

Levitation. Shit. Didn’t he know super powers didn’t work like that? You didn’t get to use them on the spot to save your life; it was too much pressure. The odds were I would become a legend—you know, a dead superhero. A door slamming drew my attention behind us to where two vampires were stalking towards us.

Lucas gave me a tight hug.

“Come with me,” I begged. “They’ll kill you.”

He shook his head and laughed. “I’m one of the richest vampires in this Hive. I own the deed to this land, with a clause that if I’m murdered the land goes to the humans. They won’t kill me, but I will spend some time in the pit.”

Shit.

“I’m going to be back for you and Tessa,” I said to him.

He nodded and squeezed my hand before running to confront the vampires, throwing himself at them.

Ryder’s voice came over the speaker. “Charlie? What’s happening up there?”

“I’m on my way,” I said to him as my legs began to shake. Sixty stories was a long-ass way down. I could already hear my ankles snapping.

“Look to your right. Aim for that building which is about twenty stories high. It’s the vampire parking garage. We’re on the top floor waiting to pick you up.”

Okay, well forty stories to drop was a little better than sixty. And seriously. WTF, the vampires got their own parking garage? The ash weren’t even allowed cars! Grr. I shook that thought from my mind and focused on the building. It was far as f*ck, right across the other side of the Hive grounds. Maybe ten times farther than I jumped when I’d saved Jayden in the culling. Looking behind me, I saw Lucas kicking ass, but becoming overwhelmed by numbers as more vamps arrived.

“Bitch, you can do this,” my BAFF said through the radio, strong and clear.

I smiled, and with a deep breath, I jogged to the far end of the space.

I squeezed the walkie-talkie button. “Ryder?”

“Yes?” He sounded worried.

“I love you.” Because I hadn’t officially said it yet and there was a ninety percent chance this ended with me as pudding.

His voice came back strong: “I love you too, you know that. Do. Not. Die. That’s an official order.”

Hah! Bossy ash.

Dropping the walkie-talkie to the ground, I rolled my neck. Here goes nothing.

I took off in a run-like-your-ass-is-on-fire sprint, sailing past Lucas and the vampires he was grappling with. My heart was beating hella fast and my brain was screaming at me to stop, but I pushed my muscles faster. If I was going to make that jump, I needed speed. Coming near the edge, I did the most insane thing of my life…