The Black Coats(56)
Instantly, Thea was thrown roughly to the floor. The attack that followed was brutal: a swift punch to the stomach and before she even could figure out what was happening, her arm was wrenched behind her, her face smacked against the floor. Thea’s training kicked in, and she thrust a leg out behind her, meeting with the attacker’s shins. The person gave a grunt as they grabbed ahold of her hair and yanked her roughly to her feet, her hands flailing uselessly in front of her.
“Mr. Porter?” she mumbled, her heart pounding.
Then Thea felt minty breath wash over her in the darkness. A dim light flicked onto her face, blinding her momentarily as she squirmed in the tight grasp. Then she heard a gasp of shock and the hand holding her hair abruptly let go. Thea fell to the floor, still not understanding what was happening. She blinked and her eyes adjusted, the moonlight giving off enough of a glow for her to see what she was looking at. Even then, she didn’t believe it.
In front of her stood an imposing figure, clad all in black, with a dark linen mask covering the top half of the face. The full lips, slashed with red, were familiar.
“Nixon?” Thea blinked again as the figure pulled the mask up. Was she dreaming? Was she still in Drew’s room? But no, there was Nixon, looking just as confused as she felt, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, her black coat buttoned to her chin.
“Thea?” Nixon reached down to steady Thea, a sign that the president was indeed as shocked as she was. That moment was where the kindness ended. Nixon looked at her for a long moment before suddenly shoving her roughly back against the wall, her whispered voice full of confusion. “What the hell are you doing here? Tell me immediately.”
Thea angrily pushed Nixon’s arm away from her neck. “What the hell am I doing here? This is my boyfriend’s house. What the hell are you doing here?”
Nixon stepped back. “What did you just say?”
“I said this is my boyfriend’s house.”
Nixon shook her head. “No. Wait—what? Your boyfriend?”
“Drew Porter. From school?” Thea stepped forward, everything about this situation raising alarm. “Nixon, seriously, what are you doing at Drew’s house?”
Her president’s eyes focused on Thea’s face, and Thea saw a tiny twitch in her lip. A second later, Nixon turned away from her, her face shrouded by the dark. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.” Her voice was low, and then she was touching her ear, speaking into a tiny microphone. “M-One, back down. Subject has been compromised. I’ll say it again, M-One, abort immediately.”
There was a quiet buzz back, and a female voice responded. “Say again, N?”
“I said, immediate abort. Do you copy?” There was a long pause. Nixon held up her hand to silence Thea.
“We’ll meet you at the drop point. Message affirmed,” came the reply.
Nixon dragged Thea across the living room. “Listen to me and do exactly as I say. This is important.” Something in her voice stopped Thea cold. For the first time ever, Nixon seemed scared. “Go out the back door. Silently. Take an immediate left and go around the side of the house under the carport. Hug the walls. Stay there, on that side of the house. Wait for ten minutes, then run—don’t walk—to your car. Go right home and wait for my instructions. Do you understand? Do not say a word about this to anyone else, especially not Team Banner.” Nixon grabbed Thea’s chin and leveled her eyes at her. “Thea, do you understand? I’m trying to save your life right now.”
Thea stepped back, suddenly very afraid of whatever this was, whoever Nixon was at this moment. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Good. Go. Now.”
Thea headed for the back door. Cracking open the screen, she slipped out into the night and around the side of the house, her heart pounding with each step. Pressing herself against the siding, she slid down the wall until she was lodged between the carport and the fence. After a moment there was a tiny screech, the whisper of a window shutting. Thea froze. They were exiting the house just a few feet away from her—a slight footstep here, a crunch of a leaf there, the rustle of pebbles underfoot. Whoever it was moved almost silently; it was nothing that would ever wake a sleeping person. Thea kept her head down, resisting the urge to run back inside and check on Drew. Why would they be here?
In the distance, she heard a car door slam and the purr of an engine. Headlights illuminated the fence across from where she huddled. Two soulless eyes peered back at her and she jumped, but it was only a deer skull, its macabre grin staring at her as a black spider scuttled out of its eye socket.
Thea counted to sixty before she burst from the carport, sprinting as fast as she could to where she had left her car. As soon as she slid into the car, words exploded from her mouth as she turned over the ignition.
“What the hell?” Thea slammed her hands against the steering wheel as she drove. Her phone buzzed; Nixon’s number popped up. Thea let out a sigh of relief, hoping to get a text message that explained everything, even though she knew that was completely implausible: Hey, I got drunk with some friends of mine and we decided to dress like Navy SEALs and party in a random house, and it just turned out to be Drew’s, no big deal, see you tomorrow!
Instead, what Thea got were numbers; that was it. Thea stared at her phone, her hands shaking. “What?”
481542