CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

“ F uck man, we’re cutting it fine,” Kurt said, ducking his head to glance out the windscreen.

It was about thirty minutes before the sun would begin to rise and they were both feeling it. Oliver pressed down harder on the pedal of his black Maserati.

“Yeah, I know, but I wanted to get her out of LA, so it was either this or waiting another day.” He rubbed his brow with one hand and held the steering wheel with the other.

“I get it.” Kurt nodded.

“Cutting it fine for what?” Piper asked, leaning forward. “And why are you going this way? My apartment is in the other direction.”

Oliver groaned silently. He’d dodged this conversation so far and had been expecting her to figure it out as they drove through Seattle.

“I asked him to drop me off first,” Kurt said, saving him from lying.

“Oh. I guess that’s fine then.” She slumped back in her seat. Oliver glanced at her in the rear vision mirror and a little smile hit his lips. She was so damn beautiful and annoying it blew his mind. He should want her out of his goddamn life, but he didn’t.

Not for a single second.

“You’re totally done for; you know that, right?” Kurt said, letting out a little laugh. “She—fuckkkkk!”

Kurt reached for the steering wheel as Oliver’s head swung around but it was too late. He’d already heard the roar.

Fuck!

He wanted to scream a warning to Piper but there wasn’t time. She didn’t have the same reflexes they had.

A white SUV slammed into the side of the Maserati in a deathly crunch, sending them skidding. Then he felt them flip and become slightly airborne before the vehicle landed on its side. Metal groaned as they slid to a stop, glass shattering and blasting everywhere.

Oliver’s head hit the steering wheel, then the side of the car as he was flung around like the inside of a clothes drier. Except less warm and cozy. Kurt was cursing, his hands braced on the roof and window, and he could hear Piper screaming.

When they finally stopped moving, the noise in his ears buzzed.

And he realized Piper had stopped screaming.

Shit.

“Port out,” Kurt instructed firmly, knowing Oliver was going to try to get Piper. “Secure the environment, then get her.”

He glanced in the back and saw her bloody, lifeless body, but there was a heartbeat. He nodded, and they both ripped the seatbelts from their bodies and teleported out of the vehicle.

The hell?

Two more white SUVs had pulled up and they were surrounded by military-style soldiers with machine guns pointed at them.

Then Oliver felt a pistol muzzle on the back of his head.

Travis SOS. He called for help, using his telepathic powers.

Where are you? Travis replied, responding with urgency to the call. They trained for this, and it wasn’t the first time they’d had to use it. What they did was dangerous, and they’d all been working together for decades.

Track my vehicle. SOS.

Ari. SOS. We need help. NOW!

On my way. The director answered fast.

Nobody fucked around when it was an SOS call.

Nobody.

If Piper wasn’t in the car, both Kurt and he would have turned this into a blood bath already. But she was.

How the fuck did they sneak up on us like this? he asked Kurt.

Good fucking question.

“Stay very fucking still.” A voice spoke from behind him.

Another SUV, this one black, pulled up and two men got out and ripped the door open on the Maserati.

Oliver’s eyes burned as they reached in and pulled Piper out.

Black GMC registration LMT-580 . They’re taking Piper.

How the fuck? Travis asked. Tracking now. Ari is on the way.

Then he felt a prick in his neck.

I’ve been injected.

“Mother fuckers,” Kurt cried out, and then humans around him began to drop as the SLC took action. Bodies began flying and shots sounded.

Oliver smashed his arms out behind him and heard another gun go off.

Body check. He wasn’t hit.

But the drugs were taking hold.

“Move. Move. Move!” someone shouted in a Russian accent.

He turned and saw Piper being carried into the black SUV. She was conscious again, and her terror-filled eyes widened. She reached out her arms to him.

“Oli!” she cried.

He wobbled on his feet, unable to move. When she saw that, she opened her mouth and screamed.

Oliver felt more useless than he ever had in his entire life.

“I’ll find you,” he said, but it wasn’t loud enough for her to hear. Then his legs crumpled under him.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kurt collapsing.

Blackness crept into his consciousness and the last thing he saw was the sun beginning to rise.

Fuck.