27. Jackson

Chapter twenty-seven

Jackson

It’s time.

All my planning, the blood I’ve spilled, everything has led up to this moment. And I’m ready for it. I had every intention of tucking my little one away while I took care of GE once and for all, but my arrogance at this all going according to plan was outclassed by her stubbornness.

And her love for me.

I know she didn’t say it, but she doesn’t have to. I see it in the way she looks at me. The way she fights for me, for us. Seeing her matching tattoo is all the proof I’ll ever need, and now I feel like I’m invincible.

That tattoo will be our talisman, our good luck charm. I don’t usually believe in that stuff, but when I saw it on her, I knew I could believe in it. It’s our bond given physical form for the world to see that we can’t be separated.

So, even though the plan has changed, my determination to see this through doesn’t waver. Raegan was never meant to sit back and let others take care of her problems for her. She’s a warrior. A fighter. I should have known she wouldn’t cower and run from danger. She’ll run right to it if someone she cares about might be in trouble.

That strength and bravery are only the tip of the iceberg of why I’m so obsessed with her.

The helicopter is already waiting on the pad by the time Raegan and I get there. We climb in, buckling ourselves next to one another across from Thorne. My hand immediately seeks out hers, intertwining our fingers together.

And with that simple gesture, any annoying flutter of concern dissipates. Her touch brings my feet back to the ground, reminds me of who I am and why I’m here. There is no end to this other than getting what we need and escaping together. Whether we kill everyone on the island to do it or not; it doesn’t matter. Only that I’ll protect her at all costs.

Thorne tries to have a conversation through the bulky and uncomfortable headsets he has us wearing. He didn’t offer one to Raegan, so I almost declined mine, but I was too curious to hear what he had to say to me.

Nothing.

He blabbers on about what we’re going to accomplish, and I tune him out. I know I need to keep him from being too upset with me while I’m pretending to be on the same side, but the fact that he listened to Raegan’s pleasure still has rage burning in my gut. I turn my face away from him, casually dismissing him and whatever he’s saying, to lean over to Raegan and press a kiss at her temple.

She bites back a smile, flicking an annoyed look at Thorne before her ocean blue eyes soften once they reach me. I smile back, constantly enamored with her reactions to me. I want to learn every single one. If I could spend an entire day drawing each of them from her until I’m satisfied, then I would.

Maybe after this is all over.

Soon .

Thorne’s glaring at me when I look back at him, and my smile twists into a smirk. He knows, has always known, about my feelings toward Raegan. There’s nothing he can say or do about it because she’s the only reason I’m supposedly helping him right now. He’s forced to swallow that bitter pill, and it’s a pleasure to witness.

Thankfully, that puts an end to any conversation or haughty remarks for me to have to endure, and the remainder of the flight is silent between the three of us.

It’s only an hour or two before the island appears ahead. As we draw closer, it looks mostly un-lived in, apart from a few small buildings maybe a mile inland from the southern beach. If this is supposed to be one of their strongholds, I expected far more buildings, more activity, more… everything from what I’m seeing now.

Raegan squeezes my hand in concern.

It wouldn’t be entirely unexpected if they were to make us meet at a lesser island for their protection, so I don’t let any negative feelings cloud my thoughts. We stick to the plan. They should have computers connected to the rest somehow, so there will still be a way in. I’ll reach out to Dane if I have to in order to help us once we’re online.

Worst case, there’s always a paper trail .

I rub my thumb over the back of her hand to reassure her that everything’s going to be okay.

The helicopter lands, and there’s a man with a clipboard waiting off to the side. I have Thorne get out first, and then I follow behind him with Raegan behind me. Before I’m even out of the helicopter, I’m scanning the area around us for signs of danger. Like the sound of a gun cocking. I check the helipad is clear, and there are no buildings at this height around us.

Just the man with the clipboard, the helicopter pilot, and us.

When I’m certain that we’re not under immediate threat, I jump down and turn to offer Raegan a hand down, recapturing it in the process once she’s clear of the chopper.

“You made good timing!” the man with the clipboard shouts over the helicopter, which departs once we’re all out of range. It means we no longer have that as our escape, but I’ve seen plenty of boats around when we were landing.

Thorne approaches the man and shakes his hand. “Yes, we did. Is the meeting still running on schedule?”

The GE employee pushes his glasses up his nose and nods emphatically. “Yes, yes. I’ll bring you to the meeting room and then let them know you’ve arrived.”

Thorne smirks at me over his shoulder. “Shall we, then?”

When I don’t react at all, waiting for him to get on with it, he scoffs and indicates to the employee to lead the way.

We stroll through hallways and stairs, winding through the building to the far side, but still a few floors up from the ground. Once the hallways narrow, I shift to the back of the line with Raegan in front of me.

The employee opens a door at the end of a long hallway to a meeting room. There’s a single table with chairs, a short counter with drinks, and one wall of windows overlooking the ocean.

“Please, have a seat. Thorne.” He indicates a chair on the opposite side of the table, which Thorne takes. He tries to pick out seats for me and Raegan next, but I take her to the other end of the table. “Oh, well, I’ll just let him know you’re here.” The man leaves the room through the only door.

“What game are you playing at, Jackson? We’re supposed to be a united front to show that I’ve convinced you to join their group.” Thorne leans forward on the table with his fingers laced in front of him; his head turned with narrowed eyes on me.

I’m too preoccupied looking for signs of deception to worry about Thorne’s feelings. My hands twitch with restless energy in my lap, fingering the blades through my hoodie.

Something’s off.

I don’t know what yet, but I can smell it like something foul hanging in the air.

There’s a low, barely audible whirring sound behind me, and I jump forward, knocking the chair back while effortlessly hopping up onto the table and spinning around.

“Shit!” Raegan’s voice instantly brings my attention to her without thought. Her wrists are clasped against the arms of the chair, and there’s a metal collar around her neck.

My chair on the ground has the same cuffs and collar out, though they’re wrapped around nothing but air .

“My gift…it’s blocking my gift,” she grits through her teeth, her hands clenched tight and jerking against the restraints.

Thorne’s still in his seat, but now he’s smiling and leaning back in it with no sign of the same trickery on his chair. “You should’ve stayed in your seat,” he voices haughtily. “It would be much easier for all of us if you didn’t fight it.”

Anger and bloodlust slip and burn through my veins, my body tensing with the need to follow through on all the promises I’ve made to Thorne. The only part of this plan where he stayed alive was so long as Raegan was safe. Now, all bets are off.

My hands fist at my sides, but I turn away from him and drop next to Raegan’s chair instead. The only thing, and I mean the only thing, that will delay his death is making sure she’s safe first.

She struggles against the unforgiving metal, trying to slip her hands out or break them free. “Jack, it’s on my ankles, too,” she tells me.

“I’ll get you out.” My voice comes out steady, despite the monster in me chomping at the bit to be released on Thorne. We’re on the clock now, but getting her free is my top priority. I’ll carry her chair with me to escape if I have to, but it’ll be far easier if she’s unrestrained and can move freely.

My lock picks are always handy in my pocket, so I get to work on the first cuff. Thorne moves, as I expected he would, but I get the first cuff free in record time.

“Jack!” Raegan shouts to warn me, but I’m already leaping forward to meet him before he can reach her.

He sends a blast of air at me, trying to knock me away, but I counter it with one of my own. The two opposing winds swirl and clash between us.

“Just keep to your end of the deal, and she won’t be hurt,” Thorne calls out. “I needed an insurance policy to make sure you didn’t turn on me. GE gets what they want to make them trust us, and you and I still do what we planned. I’ve received their word that she won’t be harmed so long as you follow your orders.”

My orders. They plan to make me their dog of war. And probably their scapegoat if I’m ever to be caught. Then call me an unhinged serial killer and lock me away for life while they find their next beast to do their dirty work.

It’s a solid plan, actually, that my ruthless side is able to admit to.

I’d do anything they asked if they dangled Raegan’s safety in the balance.

The problem with that plan is that they’d have to kill me first to get to her.

I drop from the table and throw a gust of air under it. The table flips over and sails through the air at Thorne, and I take those seconds to return to Raegan’s side. The picks are back in my hand, working on her other wrist.

The table smashes against the wall, and I know my time is up.

“Go. I’ll dislocate my thumb to get out of this one,” Raegan urges me while looking over my shoulder, most likely at Thorne closing in.

I can feel his approach behind me like a breeze at my back, raising the hairs on my neck. The air around me shifts like it’s being sucked away from us. It reminds me of a tidal wave, when all the water is pulled back, only to crash forward with devastating results.

The second cuff clicks open. Spinning around, I dive to the side, throwing air and knives at Thorne to bring his attention around to me. There’s no sign of the air I’d sent his way, and my knives are thrown back before they can get within a foot of him.

I reach out to draw the blades back to me before they can be used against me or Raegan, grasping them in hand. Thorne smirks at me, then turns and keeps walking to Raegan rather than me.

Anger swells in my chest, threatening to blind me in a red haze, but I shove it down and out of my mind. This isn’t the time for me to lose my head. I need a clear mind while Raegan is still restricted and in danger in this room. Once I know she’s safe, I can let it out.

I flip a blade between my fingers, resting a foot back against the wall behind me, and then use my gift to help propel me across the room at Thorne.

I hit an invisible wall between us, but use my gift to keep me airborne and pushing against it. My hand shakes with the effort and strain to shove my blade through whatever whirlwind of protection he has up around himself. I’m almost through when Thorne grunts and shoots me a look before I’m blown back.

My gift catches me before I slam to the ground, and I try again.

And again.

Each time, he tosses me away.

I can feel the pressure in the room shifting. Whatever attack he’s been building up is almost complete, and there’s nothing between him and Raegan. She’s trying to pull at the collar around her neck, but it’s futile until I get the lock picks to her .

Thorne smirks at me, raising his hands, and there’s a rush of wind around us. He looks back at Raegan.

No.

I use the air around me to shift my trajectory to Raegan instead of Thorne this time, stopping just in front of her chair and widening my stance before her. I throw a shield of air around us that I know will only lessen whatever blow is coming our way rather than stop it. I barely get the shield in place before the second of silence, like the room is holding its breath, warns me that my time’s run out.

His attack hits me from behind like a sledgehammer. I throw my hand out to catch myself on the back of her chair before I crash into her. White-hot pain sears across my back, and I’m momentarily blinded from the pain of it.

“Jack! Jack! ”

I focus on her voice like a lifeline. I can’t pass out. Whatever Thorne threw this way, he didn’t lessen it just because I’d stepped between him and his target. That, or he expected this and wanted me down for good.

Thorne’s footsteps get closer. I keep my eyes closed and my body still. It’s torturous to keep my body immobile while drawing in ragged breaths through the pain. But I do it. So, when he sighs from above me, and I can feel his presence within reach, he doesn’t have time to react before I slam a knife into his chest.

I yank it out with a grunt from the strength and motility needed for that move while my entire back seizes in agony. My arm slashes in an arc on autopilot, seeking his throat but missing entirely when Thorne uses his gift to hop back and add some distance between us .

His face is contorted with more anger than pain, and I’m forced to wonder again how he’s even alive. Is he alive? There's blood, but it doesn’t seem to flow as heavily as it should where I’ve just stabbed him. Or I’m only thinking that’s the case because something has felt off about him since I first saw him again.

Whatever method he used to survive or come back last time, I’ll have to be sure there are no third chances.

I look at my little one’s collar next, and when I see it isn’t attached to the chair like her other cuffs, I pass her my lock-picking tools. “Your ankles first.” She can work on them while I finish this, and then I’ll remove that collar from her.

“No!” Thorne shouts when he sees Raegan halfway free already. His hand reaches out to her, readying to cut off her air, but I shove off the ground and use my gift to propel me through the air without having to move my body.

My knife swings at his arm. He’s forced to drop it to dodge, stopping his attack on Raegan and bringing his focus back to me.

He catches my wrist and tries to turn my knife on me. My back screams as I fight to hold him back, my arm trembling as I keep the blade from touching me. I open my hand and drop it into my other hand, where I thrust it up into his gut.

Thorne’s fist smashes into the side of my face. I bite my tongue, and blood fills my mouth and flows freely from my nose. My body hits the wall from the force behind his punch, and my back is pounding to the rapid beat of my heart. I lost my grip on the knife in that attack, and Thorne pulls it free from his midsection and holds it in his hand as he stalks past me toward Raegan .

“You’re blinded by that woman. Once she’s gone, then you’ll remember what you were born for. You won’t have any excuse anymore not to stand by my side.”

No.

I don’t feel the pain when I turn and launch a gust of wind at Thorne, throwing him against the wall and holding him there. I see the knife already flying at Raegan and use my other hand to catch that, too, redirecting it to Thorne so his body catches it in the throat instead.

I walk over to him, even as I can feel his gift pushing against mine and trying to get free. It feels like a kitten batting at my sides. Like nothing. My hand flexes and his gift dies beneath the pressure of mine. Not even a whisper or tickle of it left.

I always had the stronger gift between the two of us. We both knew it, though Thorne tried to play it off that he would always be better. Just because he’d mastered power before control. But now I have both.

My head cocks to the side to study him once I’m standing in front of him. He has three stab wounds now that, for any normal person, would have put them in critical condition if not killed them by now. The throat wound, in particular, should have been the end of this.

Thorne makes a gargling sound. It looks like I won’t be getting any answers from him since I acted too rashly with that knife and cut into his vocal cords. I can’t regret the action, though. He’d dared aim the knife at Raegan.

Now, all I care about is his death. And the promises that I need to fulfill .

I drop him to the ground and get to work, divesting him of his ears and tongue as I’d once sworn to do. I remove his head last, using a collapsible bone saw I brought with me for this trip.

When I’m done, I stand above him and wipe the blood from my mouth and nose with the back of my sleeve. “Let’s see you come back from this.”