Soulless The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,70
and it was bloody. “Happened all across the country last night. The Directorate got a big fat sucker punch to the side of the head.”
“Sucker punch?” I shook my head, trying to clear it. “I mean, we heard about Kansas, but you’re saying they tried to what? Catch your target before you could?”
“They tried to kill us, Sienna.” Zack’s eyes were serious. “They damned near did. They’ve killed a lot of our agents in the last twenty-four hours. Kansas was a war zone; the west half of the state is on fire from the battle.”
We made our way down a hallway and through a set of doors to find ourselves in a loading dock. “Your vehicle is just outside,” Andromeda said. “It may be a tight fit to get all of us in it.”
Kurt looked at her in suspicion. “How did she know that?”
Andromeda’s voice dropped to a hushed whisper, and her eyes seemed to focus on something in the distance. “Because I see.” They dropped back to looking at Kurt. “It is one of my talents.”
Scott rushed forward and hit the loading door, causing it to slowly clank open. Sure enough, when it was up a small SUV was sitting in front of us, the road to the gate visible behind it, complete with the wreckage of the car we drove, gate still mounted on top of it. A few black-clad figures were visible around the yard and I watched Zack and Kurt unload on them at distance, dropping a couple while Reed stirred the winds and sent another tornado toward the largest concentration of Omega agents.
“I think we’ve worn out our welcome,” I said as Andromeda guided me to the car and pushed me into the back seat, squeezing in next to me. Zack and Kurt got in next, firing rounds all the way up until they shut the door. Kurt rolled down his window and pulled a pistol, discharging a half-dozen shots.
Reed slipped in next to Andromeda and Scott piled in after him, slamming the door as Kurt hit the gas. “Might want to call Kat and the others,” Zack said as we sped toward the gatehouse. “Warn them off. We can meet them in town and convoy back to the Directorate together.”
“Okay,” Scott said, already dialing his phone.
“I hope nobody minds if I sit in the hatchback,” Reed said. “It’s nothing personal; I just feel weird squeezing in this close to a naked girl I don’t know.” He blushed as he looked at Andromeda, and I realized that I hadn’t even noticed that she was still wearing nothing. Of course I also felt very close to passing out now that she had taken her hands off me.
Reed went over the seat into the hatchback, giving Scott and Andromeda a little more room. Scott pulled his phone away from his ear and looked down, messing with the touchscreen. “I can’t seem to reach her.”
“Think she’s out of cell phone service?” Zack said, looking back at him.
“It is a little spotty through here.” Scott stared down at his phone. “I’ll try again, but take the quickest route back to town. They should be nearly here by now.”
Zack turned to talk to me. “What happened in that room?”
I searched my memory and tried to come up with a coherent explanation. “Um, well...one of Omega’s lackeys got the better of me after I got blasted through a wall by an RPG. Then I got saved by my aunt—”
“Your aunt?” Zack squinted at me in the backseat.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Then she turned on me when I figured out that she had been killing people just for the rush of absorbing them.” I took a breath. “Then my mom saved me from her and unleashed Andromeda.”
Zack’s jaw dropped. “Your mom?” He looked at me with great uncertainty. “Are you sure you’re all right? I mean, no offense, but it kinda sounds like you’re hallucinating. Maybe we should call Perugini or Zollers.”
I shook my head. “She was real, and she was there.”
He got that look on his face that he puts up when he doesn’t want to argue. “If you say so.”
“What the...?” Kurt slowed the car as we approached the end of the dirt road, ready to turn onto the highway. Off to the side, a car was wrecked against a tree, the hood crumpled, smoke pouring from underneath. “Hope they’ve got AAA.”
“Look further,” Andromeda said, “and you will see.”