Avenged (Altered #2)(53)

With her escape in front of her, what had been bothering her about this entire situation became crystal clear.

Fields planned to turn over the drug tomorrow, and then he would disappear. It was already midnight. The Army would not be able to stop him in time.

Fields was changed, after all. He was a mover, too. She’d known him long enough to know that he was not to be underestimated.

Nick said that would be okay, too. But she didn’t know how.

What she knew was that if he loved her, he would do whatever it took to keep her safe, even convince himself that Fields wasn’t his problem. Even decide that he didn’t care about Fields as much as he cared about keeping her out of harm’s way.

Maybe the girl she’d been three months ago would have been fine with that, to let everyone else fix the problem. She would have been docile, done what it took to make him happy and be safe. She wasn’t that girl anymore.

Slowing, she tugged back her hand, slipping it from Nick’s hold, even as her heart broke for what she was about to do to him. When he turned, his face questioning, she came to a halt.

He stopped as well. His eyes cast between her and the landing helicopter only yards away. “What are you doing?”

She shook her head. She didn’t know how to explain.

If the Army didn’t get to Ahmed in time, there was no telling where this drug would go. The drug shouldn’t have been made. It shouldn’t leave the country. If it became widely available, more people would lose their loved ones. More people would die, either from the drug itself or at the hands of superhuman soldiers or mercenaries. Maybe he was fine with letting the Army deal with it. But she wasn’t.

She wanted to be the girl he saw when he looked at her. The strong one, the smart one. The one who was capable, a fighter.

The girl Nick loved.

That girl wouldn’t run away when she could do something to stop a terrorist organization. That girl wouldn’t let people die, even if it meant hurting someone she loved in the process.

Faced with Ahmed’s men, she knew what she needed to do.

“We have to stop Ahmed,” she yelled, over the deafening roar of the helicopter. “I can stop him.” We have to stop Ahmed, she thought to him, in case he couldn’t hear her.

Apprehension colored his thoughts. He pulled on her arm, desperate. I don’t care about them. I don’t want her anywhere near this.

“You don’t think they can stop Fields and Ahmed, either,” she shouted. He was keeping his doubts to himself, shielding her. Or he might not even want to admit it to himself.

“Kit, come on.” He tugged her forward. She shook her head again, more adamant, leaning back. Away from Nick.

He’d done this before, keeping things from her. This time, though, she refused to shrink away.

“No. I need to stop Ahmed.” The Army might not be able to do this, but she could. They would trank her, but if Ahmed wanted her power, she’d be awake some of the time. When she was, she’d make them regret thinking she was something to be used. A pawn in a game.

Four months ago, she’d been passive, easily manipulated. Four months ago, she didn’t fight back, didn’t stand up for herself or people she loved.

Everything had changed. Nick had changed her. He’d made her see that she was more than she’d thought. Today, she was going to prove him right.

“Come for me,” she yelled at him. “Come for me.”

She kissed his cheek and turned to run from him. As she tore off across the field, she threw her thoughts at him. Go now, go now. Go.

Nick wouldn’t leave her unless she forced him. But he had to go. He needed to tell the Army what they’d learned, about Fields, about Ahmed, about where they could find her.

Confusion passed his features, but he spun from her and trudged toward the helicopter.

She would have liked if he went faster, but she didn’t watch him. She didn’t want to see Nick walk away from her. It hurt too much.

Her stomach sick, she ran across the field to the sedans. The door to one opened, and a burly man stepped out. She slipped into the door he’d left open, sliding across the seat.

“We leave. Now,” she yelled out to him.

Around her, the men resisted. They were to bring both her and Nick back. Their orders were explicit. She and Nick knew too much. They needed to be neutralized.

That wasn’t going to happen.

She closed her eyes. Leave Nick behind. Leave now. Leave now. Her desperation laced her thoughts, making them stronger, more adamant. She wouldn’t accept “no.” They would leave. She would make them.

They did, screeching as they turned around.

Walkie-talkies buzzed, and an irate voice crackled over the line. What are you doing? The man—you’re leaving the man.

But the driver hit the gas, accelerating out of the parking lot. “We leave now.”

Kitty continued the litany, and they obeyed her. As the sedans sped from the parking lot, the helicopter followed. While she continued to push the driver, she reached into the sky, to the pilot.

She’d never split this part of her gift between two people. But it felt easier. She could hear so far, could feel them around her.

They were hers to control.

She told the driver to go faster, and she told the pilot to leave her behind.

The helicopter fell back. As they sped away, she watched the rearview mirror until the aircraft dropped out of her sight.