“What if something happens to you?” the Asian kid asked.
Dom turned around and saw the renewed terror in everyone’s eyes. Damn. “Where’s the guard with the keys?”
“He comes off and on. They know we can’t get out so they’re not always outside.”
“How many are there? Guards, medical staff, everyone.”
“Five guards, one doctor—if you can call her that—two nurses, and that nightmare they call m’lord.”
“Blake, don’t forget the new guy,” someone said.
“Oh, yeah,” Blake said. “A new guy we hadn’t seen before came in earlier today. Or maybe it was yesterday. We kind of lose track of time down here. He’s tall and quiet. Watches everything, but doesn’t say much.”
“Ten total?”
Blake nodded his head. “Plus Marsha and Nick are down there, too. Marsha’s been there awhile and Nick—they just came for him. They looked really excited when they took him away.”
“Where are the guards stationed?”
“Around the corner to the left. Sometimes they’re in the back room watching TV and other times they’re sitting at the desk.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
The guards’ station was just where they said it was. A Darkblood sat behind the desk, his feet propped up, reading a newspaper. In a heartbeat, Dom was behind him, his blade unsheathed.
“Goodbye, asshole.” He plunged the silver-tipped blade deep into the guard’s sternum and twisted. The body slumped to the floor, where it darkened and began to char. Even the clothes disintegrated, until all that remained were the metal parts. Zippers, rivets, coins and a large set of keys.
He sprinted back to the cell and soon had the door open. “Hurry, but stay quiet.” He gave them quick directions. Corey hung back with Blake. Dom unholstered a gun and checked the safety. “Either of you two know how to use this?”
“I do,” Corey said.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me? It’s got silver-tipped bullets. Through the heart and the Darkblood is dead, anywhere else and he’s wishing he were. Now, go.” Seeing Corey hesitate, he added. “Leave with them. I’ll find her. Now get the hell out of here.”
Dom moved down the corridor quickly but methodically. He tried to reach Mackenzie, but she didn’t answer. Why the hell had he wasted precious time freeing those people? He should’ve followed his gut and freed her first. If something happened to her because of that delay, he’d—
When he rounded the last corner, light from a cracked doorway spilled out into the dark hallway. A control panel was on the far side of the room, and the huge wall of windows overlooking another room reminded him of a surgery observation area. Was this the viewing room she’d mentioned?
Mackenzie?
No answer.
A door fifteen feet away hung open, as well, and he heard voices again. “Yes, m’lord,” someone said.
Dom froze, hardly daring to breathe. It was him. Pavlos. Just a heartbeat away.
Random thoughts filled his head. The sound of his mother’s scream. The terror in her eyes just before Pavlos killed her. His father, tied with silver chains to his chair, forced to watch. The draperies flapping in the open window. Never had he been this close to the monster who was the last one to see his parents alive. Not in the catacombs of Paris, on the hills outside Prague or down in the Florida Everglades. Not until now.
Revenge chilled him from head to toe as he palmed a blade. It took every ounce of willpower he had to stand his ground. He slipped into the viewing room instead. On the other side of the windows, Mackenzie was strapped to an exam table. With her arms out at right angles, an IV bag of blood at her side, she lay with her head turned away.
Oh God, she wasn’t…gone…was she? Was he too late?
Just then, she turned her head and opened her eyes. He was at her side in an instant. She blinked a few times, as if unsure of what she was seeing. Then she smiled and her relief flowed into him.
“I knew you’d find me,” she whispered.
He quickly unbuckled the leather straps and pulled her into his arms. After thinking he’d lost her, he wanted to hold her like this forever. Before he could get her out of the exam room, he needed to get the IV out of her arm. He tugged gently at the tape holding the thin tube to the inside of her elbow and slid the needle out. A small trickle of blood dribbled from the site. Without thinking, he dipped his head and