Avenged (Altered #2)(7)

“It’s certainly not my employees.” Fields oozed arrogance—as always. “I very carefully screen the few people who work for me.”

“And we don’t? We’re a high security military contractor, doctor. We have the strictest levels of secrecy.”

Fields bristled. His voice had disappeared around the corner, but his thoughts echoed in her mind, like a nightmare that lingered after waking. “This happened on your watch, Pike. If the prisoner isn’t recovered, it can jeopardize everything.”

“I’m aware of that, doctor…”

The remainder of their conversation disappeared as they moved out of the range of her power, behind too many concrete walls.

She allowed her head to sag between her shoulder blades. She took deep breaths. He hadn’t known she was there. She was still free.

His words remained, though. It can jeopardize everything. What did that mean?

Who was that? Was that Fields?

She nodded, starting forward again. So, he knew about Fields. She wondered how much more information he had. It didn’t matter. They needed to get out of here, one way or the other. Thankfully, Nick seemed to agree, and he let it go.

She followed the rest of his directions without comment, and they wove their way through the walls and ceiling until they reached a length of duct that ran straight up.

Stop here.

She shifted up, into the opening, and then backed out so that she could face him.

His face looked spooky in the flashlight beam. Poised on one hand, he rifled through his pocket, coming up with what appeared to be claws of some kind.

“What are those?” she whispered.

He held them out. The military made them for me. I’m going to cut holes in the duct, we’re going to climb up this tube, and go out on the roof.

“Won’t they notice us?”

Yes. Eventually. But I’ve got it covered.

With that ominous promise, he rose, focusing on what he had to do. He cut a hole a foot or so up on one side, then another a foot or so above that on the adjacent side. He repeated this process until he couldn’t reach any higher. Then he put his foot in the first hole he’d made and hiked himself up. He moved up the duct in that way, quickly creating footholds along the sides of the ductwork as he went, until he reached the grate above them.

Nearly twenty feet above them.

You need to come up.

He wanted her to climb, too.

Okay. All right. She stretched her neck, trying to loosen the kink that had formed there. If this was the way out, then this was what she would have to do. She’d been through a lot over the past months. She wasn’t the timid girl she’d been.

She could do this.

You can do this. His voice floated in her mind. It was full of his usual steel, the bossiness she’d come to associate with him. Except it didn’t feel like bossiness now. It felt like confidence.

It filled her up, chased away her doubt.

Nick believed she could do this. If he believed she could do this, she wasn’t going to prove him wrong.

She stood, putting the pocket-sized flashlight in her mouth. She refused to climb without any light. Maybe Nick could do hardcore stuff like that, but there was only so much she could expect from herself.

Her fingers slipped into the first hold at shoulder height. But when she tried to grip, to hoist herself up, the sharp edge cut into her palm.

She hissed and yanked her hand back, rubbing the soft flesh. In the flashlight beam, she watched tiny pinpricks of blood pool along the line. She pressed the sleeve of her jumpsuit against them.

Pull the suit sleeves down over your palms. That damn thing looks big enough.

She scowled up at him. He’d made this—everything—look so easy. It wasn’t fair.

Put your anger into your task. We need to move. He might have seemed heartless if she couldn’t feel the compassion in him.

Did he feel bad for her? She couldn’t handle his pity.

Gritting her teeth, she blocked him and his pity and his thoughts out. She needed to concentrate.

Instead, she focused on the fire in her chest. She latched onto that determination, shaking out her hands. This wasn’t going to be it. She wasn’t going back to that cell. She hadn’t come this far to fail.

She gripped the handhold again, with the barrier of her jumpsuit over her hands, and hiked her foot into the first opening from the bottom. Thank goodness for the rubber on the bottom of her socks. It gave another layer of protection from the sharp metal. She inhaled and started up. In her mind it took forever, but in reality, she probably made pretty good time.

At the top, she glanced up at Nick, the triumph of getting to him singing through her blood. As the flashlight played over his features, he didn’t look surprised—which surprised her. Instead, he looked proud.

Her chest constricted, and she looked away, unsure what that meant. She’d closed him out, so she had no idea what he was thinking. But when she opened her mind again, he’d already looked away to the grate above their heads.

A little more… A faint click sounded, followed by his triumphant, ah ha! He adjusted his footing, then put both of his hands over his head and pushed. The grate didn’t look light, but it came away from the sides pretty easily. He grunted as he heaved it, throwing it off the opening.

He made two more handholds before he gripped the top of the duct and pulled himself up and out.