Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,7
see it for yourself.”
“Well, I’d love to,” Trinity volleyed back before she could stop herself. “If you’d ever get around to showing us the way.”
Scarlet’s face crumpled at this, and Trinity immediately regretted her harsh words. After all, Scarlet wasn’t responsible for any of this mess. She’d only done what Trinity had asked her to do. And she’d suffered for it. By the looks of it, she’d suffered quite a bit.
“Sorry,” Trin amended quickly. “I’m just a little on edge right now. Go ahead. We’ll be right behind you.”
Scarlet nodded, pushing past her to exit the cell and head down the hallway. Trinity and Connor followed close behind, stopping only to drag the unconscious guard into Scarlet’s cell, closing the door behind him. They didn’t need any evidence lying around for others to find.
“Come on,” Trinity urged. “We’ve got to hurry.”
They picked up their pace, making their way down the elevator, through the halls, trying to be as quiet as possible. For all they knew, there could be a hundred armed guards lying in wait around any corner, and Trin’s adrenaline spiked at every turn.
Suddenly Nate’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie. “Are you guys almost done? It’s getting pretty hairy down here. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to stay in this box.”
“We’re on our way to Emmy now,” Trin told him. “Just hang in there, okay?” She could feel Connor giving her a look but refused to turn to meet his eyes. No way was she going to bail now—not when they were so close. She reached for the walkie again. “If you need to get out, take the truck with you,” she told Nate. “We’ll have Emmy fly us over to the rendezvous spot once we get her out, and we can regroup from there.”
“Roger that,” Nate said, sounding relieved. “See you on the flip side.”
Trin stuffed the walkie back in her pocket as they reached the end of the corridor, blocked by a heavy metal door. Scarlet grabbed Trinity’s arm, stopping her in her tracks. “There,” she whispered. “That’s the testing facility. That’s where they keep her locked up.”
“Hey! What are you doing in here?”
The three of them whirled around at the sound of the gruff voice. A man dressed in a scientist’s white lab coat stormed toward them, fury on his face. “Scarlet? Why aren’t you in your cell? And who are these people?”
Crap. They were totally busted. Trinity shot a look at Connor, then stepped into the guy’s path. “We’re no one,” she told him, using her gift to push him as hard as she could. “No one at all. Maybe you should just walk away.”
Walk away, walk away, walk away, she chanted in her head. She could feel Connor, joining her in the push. We are no one. Just walk away.
But unlike the guard down at the loading dock, the scientist didn’t seem phased by the attempted mind manipulation. Trinity creased her brow, worry threading through her. Some people were natural resisters—or maybe the Dracken, Mara, who was currently working with the government had trained him somehow.
“You can’t be here,” the scientist continued. “This is a highly classified area. I’m going to have to call security.”
He stalked over to a control panel by the far wall, where an intercom blinked green. Trin watched in horror as he made to press the button that would bring on the reinforcements. Her heart pounded.
They’d be discovered.
They’d be caught.
They’d be killed.
They’d fail Emmy one last time…not to mention the rest of the world.
No. This time it had to work. It had to.
Trinity dove for Connor’s pistol, grabbing it from the holster and squeezing the trigger as hard as she could.
The bullet sang true—torpedoing into the scientist’s back—and he staggered backward, a crimson stain spreading across his lab coat at an alarming rate. Screaming, he made one last-ditch effort to reach the intercom, but Connor grabbed him, wrestling him away and shoving him to the ground. There, the man writhed in agony, gasping for breath as blood dripped from his mouth. With a grim face, Connor put him out of his misery.
Trinity turned away, her stomach wrenching, the gun falling from her hand and clattering to the floor. Connor scooped it up, stuffing it back in its holster. Then he grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her until he held her attention.
“You did what had to be done,” he told her in a gruff voice. “You very well might have just saved the world.”
She forced herself to