Ignoring the pain of the burns on her back, she scrambled to her feet and ran for the parking lot. She didn't get ten feet before Jack's voice rose from the darkness like a demon from the grave.
"No further, Sam. You've done enough damage for one night."
Jack appeared out of the darkness to her right, holding a laser as powerful as her own. Jack, the vampire, faster than she'd ever be. She swore. The two women needed time to get up that hill and get away. Somehow, she had to provide it.
She fired haphazardly in his direction, and then dove sideways. Blue-red light burned across the ground inches from her feet. She scrambled to her feet and kept on running.
"I don't want to hurt you, Sam."
No. Just use her. Willingly or not. Heat sizzled across the night air. She leapt for the corner of the nearby building. Sparks flew, gold and white fireflies that danced across her face as the laser blasted a hole inches above her head.
Malevolence stung the night, and evil, then the sound of running steps. Her so-called friend, approaching fast. Shuddering, she scrambled back up and ran on.
"Stop. This is my last warning."
She ignored it, ignored the sense of danger throbbing through her veins. Ignored the spectre of death hovering in the storm held skies. There was a car only a few feet away. Ten seconds was all she needed to get in, hot wire the com-unit and get the car going. Ten seconds. Surely that wasn't asking much.
She didn't make it. Heat blasted into her back, throwing her to the concrete. Her head smashed against the pavement and stars danced before her eyes. She bit back a cry of pain, fighting to stand, fighting to run. To no avail. Her back was locked in fire, and her body refused to obey her wishes.
The last thing she heard before the darkness closed in was Jack's gentle sigh.
Chapter Fourteen
Gabriel walked to the edge of the roadside. Nestled in the valley below them was what looked to be a small military encampment. There were seven long red brick or bluestone buildings in all, surrounded by a high wire fence. He had no doubt the fence would be electrified. The men who'd taken Sam were somewhere below them. Whether she was still there was another matter entirely.
He glanced around as Karl joined him at the edge. Hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jacket, Karl studied the camp for several minutes then met Gabriel's gaze. "What do you think?"
"I think it's far too quiet." There were very few lights, except for the couple on the building at the far edge of the camp. There was no movement, no guards that he could see. Everything suggested it was a trap, with a capital T.
"If they'd found the bugs, surely they would have destroyed them."
"Maybe." Maybe not. They were dealing with a warped mind. Kazdan could do anything. "I might take a flight down and see what I — "
The rest of his words were cut off as an explosion ripped across the night. Flames leapt high, burning into the sky as metal and wood flew like sparklers through the camp.
He dropped to the ground, followed almost instantly by Karl. The lights in the far buildings went out, and several shouts could be heard above the noise of the explosion.
"Someone's hit the generator," Karl commented.
He nodded. Maybe someone who wanted the fence taken out. Otherwise, why bother?
Laser fire lit up the night, brighter than the fire. "Someone's heading north, if those shots are anything to go by."
"And someone else is heading up this hill," Karl said. "Listen."
For a moment, he heard nothing, and then came a soft heel scuff, and the sharp clatter of rock tumbling down the slope. He tapped Karl on the shoulder, and then pointed to the right. Karl nodded, and rose to his feet, moving away as silently as a shadow.
Gabriel shifted shape. The wind tucked under his wings, thrusting him up past the tree line. Whoever was climbing the hill wasn't very fit. He could hear their panting as clearly as he could smell the acid tang of the fire.
He swept down the slope, wings brushing the highest tips of the gum trees. Rodents scattered, their high pitched squeals of terror music to his hawk hearing. He ignored them, gliding on. Shadows ran through the trees just ahead — female, rather than male. Their shapes alone told him neither was Sam. Yet both were shapes he knew. He dove through the trees, changing as he neared the ground.
"Lyssa," he called softly.
She turned with a cry of relief, all but falling into his arms.
"Oh thank God, Gabriel. I thought I'd never see you again."
He frowned. The woman in his arms was trembling with fear, and the front of her shirt was covered in blood — blood that he could smell more than see. She was also more drawn, and a hell of a lot skinnier, than the Lyssa he'd seen only yesterday.