Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(100)

When he darted forward to finally enter the building, the entire group followed as though we'd been tugged. Everyone remained on high alert. Around us, there were cages - empty. Lab coats hanging on hooks. Wall-to-wall computer systems and machines I could not identify. There were even tables with ankle and wrist restraints, and I couldn't stop a shudder from traveling down my spine.

We cased the length of one hallway, then another, only Rome entering the offices we encountered, roving the barrel of his gun over the spaces.

"Nice try," I heard him say in one of them. Then, Pop. Whiz. Grunt.

I was wide-eyed as he emerged. He was careful not to look at me.

"Guard was hiding, and could have later ambushed us," he explained to the group before starting forward again.

Just like before, we followed as though we'd been tugged. Twice, Tanner had to shoot in the direction he was guarding - but only because he missed the first time. Three times, Jean-Luc had to fire off a round as doctors and guards emerged from corners and shadows to escape the little pockets of fire still blazing from the bomb. Even Hans had to shoot. He hit his target dead-on.

Gotta say, he and his brother impressed me. I'd expected them to slow us down, but they'd done more for this mission than I had.

Your turn is coming.Was Desert Soon-to-be-Dead Gall still here or had she bolted when the alarm went off? She was probably here, I decided a moment later. If Cody had gotten her here, he wouldn't have let her leave.

I needed to keep my fear on a tight leash. Water fed her, strengthened her, so throwing ice balls at her would probably cause her energy levels to spike. Sadness was out, too. Making it rain on her would be like signing my own death warrant.

That left fire, wind and/or earth. Fire - I'd need fury. Wind - I'd need the perfect blend of anger, happiness and sadness. Earth - I'd need jealousy.

"You okay?" Jean-Luc whispered to me. His eyes roved left and right, watchful. "You're pale." I sheathed my gun at the waist of my pants, angling it to my back. "Just trying to decide what element I need for my upcoming catfight, as Tanner calls it."

"Any front-runners?"

Yeah, I just didn't want to admit it. But there was no help for it. "Fire, most likely. It creates ash, the total opposite of what Desert Asshat needs for strength."

He snorted as he performed another quick left-right scan, then a backward glance. He moved another inch in front of me. "What emotion do you need for that? Fury, right?"

"That's right." We turned a corner, our steps slowing.

He nodded, seemed to think things over for a moment, his gun sliding in sync with his gaze. "Rome doesn't like that you're an agent."

My eyes narrowed. "You can't know that. You gave him back his memories, which means they can't be inside you. You don't know what he's feeling."

"Oh, really? Well, guess what, sugar? I wrote everything down. I knew the time would come that I'd have to give them back to make you happy, and I didn't want to forget a thing about you. So I wrote everything down and read it all. The. Time. I've memorized his memories. Rome didn't want you to be an agent. He was thinking about swooping you up and carrying you and his daughter off to a hideaway." Shocked to the core, I sent my gaze to the man in question. All I could see was the stiff line of his back and the side of his face as he performed the same left-and-right scan as Jean-Luc at the end of the hallway to decide where to go.

"Also, he had a fling with Desert Gall shortly after his divorce from Lexis. He called her Candy. They were pretty hot, but he broke things off to try and win Lexis back. Pissed Candace off royally.

Embarrassed her."

Every muscle in my body was stiffening. The ice inside me was melting, swifter than it ever had before.

Little flames were branching from my fingernails. "That's not possible. One, she's a scrim who was in Pretty Boy's employ. Two, Rome hates scrims. Three, touching her drains a person of their water, and he wasn't drained."

Jean-Luc was shaking his head before the last word left me. "Nope. She's only worked for Pretty Boy a year, so maybe she wasn't a scrim when Rome dated her. And she's not like Elaine. Skin to skin doesn't drain the water from a body. Candace controls it. She decides when to drain, when not to." He was right. I'd watched Cody touch her and nothing had happened to him. "I - I - " Had no words.

Why the hell had Rome not told me about this?

We rounded another corner and stopped abruptly as Rome held up one hand. I rammed into Jean-Luc.

He humphed, stumbled forward and rammed into Hans.

"Sorry." I scanned the room we'd entered. Spacious but with more cages, these actually filled with people. Around fifteen of them. I searched their dirty, bruised faces - and found Sherridan and Lexis.

My heart raced and tears popped into my eyes. They were alive. Thank God, thank God, thank God.

Each occupied her own cage. They were more bruised than the other prisoners, but alive. They gripped the iron bars and watched the happenings with a mix of fear and hope.

And there, in the center of it all, was Cody. If I'd had any remaining doubts about whether I could trust him, the sight of him put them to rest. Lightning streamed from one of his hands, wrapping around Desert Gall in a supercharged cage of her own, her hair standing up from her scalp, her eyes bugging out from the intensity. Clearly, she couldn't move. But the lines of tension around her mouth suggested she was trying to do so with every ounce of strength she possessed.