Chapter 28

DARBY

As Anita and the guys disappear through the gates, I swallow hard against the need to order them to abort the mission. No matter how much I want my sister back, I don't want to risk Anita's life to do it.

If anything happens to her, I'll never be able to forgive myself.

Overwhelming guilt paralyzes me, cold sweat dampening my shirt, and it's a struggle to find enough air to breathe. The clank of the gates shutting jerks me out of my spiral.

There is only one way I'll be able to complete my task—I have to trust the guys to keep her safe. Though I do work in the field with the others, I'm more comfortable behind my screens. The only way to stifle my control freak tendencies is to know everything that is happening.

Tonight will stretch my capabilities to their limits. I need to work below the radar to avoid detection. One surge of power, and our location will be compromised.

I plant my feet, discharging any extra energy, then I close my eyes and call my powers. They rise slowly, electricity crackling against my skin as it gradually envelops me from head to toe. When I open my eyes again, I see the many different forms of electricity overlaying the world.

I sort through the different streams of energy until I find the ones I need. I don't even hesitate to hack into the guys' cell phones, turn on the mics, then set up a program to listen for any signs of distress coming from Anita.

If she calls for me or gets herself into trouble, I'll know.

When I'm able to hear their voices, I finally relax and focus on my task. We only have minutes to implement our plan before the guards return, and I already wasted half of them.

I turn toward Stryker, and he nods before taking a knee.

I run toward him at full speed, placing my foot into his threaded hands, then he tosses me over the ten-foot solid brick wall. I sail over without a problem, clearing the wrought iron spikes mounted along the top bricks with just inches to spare.

I barely land before Stryker follows, soaring through the air before he silently drops down next to me on the grass. He glances at me, then nods, waiting for me to take the lead since I have access to the security grid.

We landed in the garden like Anita promised. It would almost look beautiful, if it wasn't for the sinister atmosphere cast over everything. We cling to the shadows, moving as quickly as we dare. We just reach the edges of the bushes when Stryker grabs my arm.

I don't even have a chance to look before Stryker lunges out of our hiding spot. A thud sounds, followed by a grunt, then Stryker is pulling a guard backward through the vegetation. He drops the body behind us, and I note the unfocused, dilated eyes that tell me this guy is never getting back up again. The front of the guard's outfit is shiny with blood, and I can just see the meaty remains of where his neck would be…if it hadn't been completely torn out.

Stryker just lifts a questioning brow and shrugs.

I nod and take off again. With Gwen's help tracking the guards' phones, we evade the remaining patrols. We're just yards from the gazebo when our plan goes to shit. A low snarl comes from the far side of the gazebo, more a vibration than a sound, and the hair on the back of my neck lifts.

Shadows shift, then a big beast of a dog who looks like it escaped from the prehistoric era emerges out of the darkness. The thing is massive, the animal a cross between a wolf and a fucking horse, and if the manic gleam in his eyes and excessive slobber are any indication, he's completely insane.

Stryker steps in front of me, aggression rolling off him in waves. Though he remains in his human form, his beastling manifests completely. He bulks up with a good thirty pounds of muscle, his clothes stretching until they shred. His fur thickens to prevent injury, his claws lengthen until three-inch blades tip his fingers, then his jaw cracks and monster fangs push out of his mouth.

He turned from a shy kitten into one scary ass fucking monster.

The wolf creature doesn't like the challenge and launches across the clearing with a throaty snarl, tearing up the lawn in his wake. Stryker charges forward, and they clash with a meaty thump, tearing into each other with teeth and claws.

Unfortunately, it looks like an even match.

"Go," Stryker snarls, taking a nasty blow to his side. The beast's talons are sharper than any knife, and his skin parts easily under the claws. As much as I want to do as he commands, Anita would never forgive me if anything happened to him, and truthfully, I kind of like the guy.

He's good for Anita, and that's good enough for me.

I would be useless in a fight. Even if I could get close enough to sap his energy, I would be mauled to death before I could finish, so I do the one thing I'm good at—I connect to the servers in the van and run through the data, searching for the beast's weaknesses. Gwen is cheering on the fight in the background, the vicious little thing, and I can practically see her throwing punches from where she's sitting in front of the monitor.

It takes nearly a minute for me to find what I need. He's a fucking dire wolf. I hastily pull it out of the system, hoping I'm not too late.

"Get him in the water!" I yell to Stryker, wincing when I see his fur is liberally stained with blood.

He grunts, acknowledging that he heard me, then hunkers low like a football player on a starting line. When the beast charges this time, Stryker doesn't bother defending himself.

No, instead, the crazy ass cat picks the three-hundred-pound beast up in a bear hug, then charges across the lawn toward the swimming pool. The wolf tears into his back and legs with his claws, while his mouth brutally savages his shoulder.

Stryker staggers closer, and I quickly dash across the distance. I don't slow as I near, just plow into them, and the three of us go flying into the water. I don't have time to do much more than gasp for air before I plunge under the surface.

Both Stryker and the wolf struggle as they sink, their movements slower but no less violent. Blood immediately clouds the water, obscuring my view, but it looks like Stryker has the upper hand because of his human form.

When they hit the bottom, they split apart, both of them circling and throwing punches. Air leaves the wolf's mouth, and the creature desperately claws for the surface. Stryker shoves off the ground, grabs the beast's tail, and drags him back down.

The wolf thrashes, his movements more violent, before he gradually slows. Lungs screaming, I head toward the surface, then gasp for air. I swim to the side of the pool, ready to drag myself out, when I notice Stryker hasn't surfaced.

I duck my head under the water and see him painstakingly walking across the bottom of the pool toward the shallow end, but his movements are slow and sluggish, air escaping him with every step.

I mentally curse when I realize the problem.

The fucker can't swim.

Pushing away from the side of the pool, I dive to the bottom and reach him just as the last of the air leaves his lungs. I wrap my arms around him from behind, nearly getting a fist full of claws before he recognizes me, then I shove up from the bottom and swim.

I grunt under his bulky form. The fucker must weigh a ton!

No wonder he can't swim.

It takes an agonizingly long minute for me to reach the surface and drag him to the side of the pool, but he has long since given up struggling. I haul his dead weight over to the edge, flop his arms over the top, then haul myself out. By the time I drag his sopping wet ass out of the water, I'm panting.

I give him a few healthy whacks on his back, but he doesn't move. With a shove to his shoulder, I roll the big lug over, then grimace. "If you make me give you mouth-to-mouth, I'm going to fry every electronics you own for the next year."

Kneeling in a pool of bloody water, I quickly locate the center of his chest, then thump my fist into it once. When his body doesn't react, I do it again, only harder. He bows up, sputtering and gasping, coughing up water, and I quickly help him sit as he gains his breath.

"If you knew you couldn't swim, why the fuck would you dive into the water?" I chide him as I stagger to my feet, then plop my hands on my hips and glare down at the idiot.

"Dire wolves are nearly impossible to kill in a fight. Their bloodlust is insatiable. He would have torn through me, then gone for you." Stryker accepts my hand, and I nearly topple over as he pulls himself to his feet with a groan. "It was the only way to kill him before we were discovered."

My shoulders drop, because he's right. I'm not weak, but I don't think I would have been able to get him to the pool on my own. As we head toward the gazebo, I glance at him with worry. "How badly are you injured? Maybe you should return to the van. I can take things from here."

Stryker is already shaking his head. "I've lived through worse. You're going to need my nose underground if you want to find your sister. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can grab Anita and leave."

As much as I want to protest, he's right. We both enter the gazebo, and I detect a small hum of electricity coming from a bench on the right. I skirt the fireplace in the center, then lift the bench and spot the waiting keypad.

I don't even mess with trying to find the code, just place my hand over the console, then send a surge of electricity to short-circuit the locks. Electronics burn out all the time. There is a buzz, then the door pops open. The tunnel is surprisingly well lit, which means it's more than just an escape hatch, but a frequently traveled area.

Stryker shrugs, ignores the ladder, and walks into empty space. He drops, landing with a grunt, then surveys the area with a sweep of his head before slowly standing. I quickly follow, conscious of time ticking away.

The air is colder and feels heavier underground. The hum of electricity is so loud that it vibrates through the cement walls. "This place is a giant computer."

I don't dare reach out and probe for any information.

Even a tiny disturbance would give away our location.

Stryker grunts, then lifts his head in the air and sniffs. "I'm going to hazard a guess that this is the guard station as well. There are probably over thirty people or more living down here."

"If we follow the servers, we should find my sister." I'm so close to finding her after years of searching that the anticipation is painful. My feet automatically turn toward the source of the computers.

I didn't realize how much I'd given up hope until now. I take two steps down the hall when Stryker grabs the back of my shirt, nearly pulling me off my feet, before pressing my back against the wall.

That's when I hear it.

Footsteps.

A lot of them.

I glance the opposite way, spy a door just a few feet away, then grab his arm and drag him behind me. It's too late now to try to be subtle. I slap my hand over the electrical lock, sending a spark of energy along the circuits until a little chirp sounds. Not waiting for confirmation, I shove the door open and yank Stryker in behind me, then slam it shut.

Darkness immediately engulfs us, the door muffling any noise from beyond. The lack of sound has the hair lifting on the back of my neck. I turn, my eyes adjusting slowly, and I barely make out the shapes in the room.

As I step away from the door, a familiar hum catches my attention—computers. Everything is in hibernation mode, so I didn't notice them right away. A large rectangle, standing four feet tall and six feet long, rests in the middle of the otherwise empty room.

Dread cools my blood to ice, and my throat tightens at the coffin-like structure. It's a tech pod used to store bodies of tech'ers who have lost their minds in the servers. It keeps their bodies alive in a temperature cooled environment while they are trapped in the virtual world.

I'm shaking as I approach the pod, but I already know what I'm going to find. When I touch the cool metal of the machine, I release a shuddering breath and gather my courage to look down…and the world stops around me.

Charlotte is stretched out in the middle of the box in an ergonomic chair that keeps her weight off her pressure points. The chair supports her limbs separately, allowing her to be exercised daily like a fucking dog to be walked.

It almost looks like she's asleep, her breathing so light, it's only the slight throb of her pulse in her neck that lets me know she's still alive. Her complexion is so pale, her skin is translucent, the lack of sun over the years giving her a ghostly appearance. Her pale blonde hair is shaved on the sides but braided back along the top to keep the greasy strands contained.

Electrodes are attached to her scalp, and her fingers are encased in mechanical gloves in lieu of a keyboard. A feeding tube goes down her nose, while a dozen other wires have been implanted in her arms.

She's so emaciated, she looks fragile, like one touch might shatter her.

I press my hands against the glass separating us, despair eating away at my insides.

They locked her in a fucking server pod, forcing her to do their bidding. I'm not sure if it's even possible for me to untangle her from the system and get her out alive. A tattoo is etched along the side of her neck, the intricate lines of an electrical circuit and chip so similar to my own that my breath catches.

The instant both of my palms touch the glass, the screen lights up, and code streams across the surface.

"Interesting. The infamous Corsair." A rich male voice emerges from the speakers, his tone almost contemplative. "You are not who I was expecting."

It takes only seconds to connect the dots. "And you must be Jackal."

A beat of silence follows, then a deep chuckle crackles over the system. "I see we have a mutual acquaintance. I thought for sure the lovely Anita would come for Charlotte, but I guess you will do just as well."

I allow myself to sink into the servers around my sister, but the glass immediately frosts over before I can penetrate the firewall.

"Nuh-uh, you naughty boy." A tsk sound echoes in the room, and the humor in the voice turns grim. "Do you think you'll be able to get to your sister before I can shut off her life support?"

Anger threatens to steal the last of my control, and I force myself to lift my hands away from the screen. The frost immediately clears so I can see her once again, and I'm able to squeeze a little bit of oxygen back into my lungs. "What do you want?"

"Oh, not much." There is a click, then a hatch in the pod slides open, and a tray containing a syringe pops out. "If you inject this into Anita, I'll disconnect your sister from the pod."

"Fuck you, asshole," I snarl at the bastard, dragging my hands through my hair as I pace the small confines of the room. My stomach churns at the thought of injecting Anita with anything from this freak.

"Aw, a moral conundrum," he says, his snide voice holding a touch of amusement. "Do you let your sister die or inject your girlfriend with a serum that is completely harmless?"

"What do you want with Anita?" Stryker stalks toward the pod, aggression in his every step. Panic flares in my chest at the thought of him touching the pod and accidentally killing my sister.

I hold up my hand in warning, and Stryker pauses then nods, careful not to touch anything.

"Anita was mine long before she was yours!" Jackal roars, his voice amplified so much that it threatens to shatter my eardrums.

Stryker drops to his knees, covering his sensitive ears, but he doesn't relent. He grits his teeth and demands, "What do you want with Anita?"

"The Kerringtons break us down until we're nothing but their minions. Anita is different." He sounds angry, envious, and admiring at the same time. "No matter what torture she endured, she refused to relent, refused to break. I watched the footage over and over and can't figure out how she managed it. She was even able to hide from me for over a year before I found her again. I helped her stay hidden from her family, but the foolish girl got complacent."

He snorts at her idiocy. "Though she took precautions as a bike messenger, using special glasses so she couldn't be seen by the cameras, she was bound to be spotted eventually."

"They set a bomb off to capture her," I murmur, rubbing my fingertips against my lips. Anita had been right all along. Unable to stay away, I find myself standing next to the pod once again, and my head snaps up as a new revelation hits. "You thought Anita would come for Charlotte?"

A snarl rumbles through the speakers, and Jackal is furious when he speaks. "And she would have if your sister hadn't interfered. She thwarted every attempt Anita made to get her back, then finally faked her own death, sacrificing herself so Anita would stop."

Jackal releases a manic laugh. "But I made her pay. She's now trapped in the servers until I let her out."

Silence rings through the speakers for a second. When his voice comes back, it's almost cheerful. "You can have your sister back. I'll even unhook her from the servers as a good faith gesture. Just take the syringe and give Anita the option. But a word of caution," he says in a sing-song voice. "Take your sister more than a mile outside the estate without injecting Anita with the serum, and I'll fry her brain. You'll lose your sister forever."

He doesn't wait for a response. The servers around my sister power down, the pod lights up, code flashing across the surface. It only takes five minutes before the dome over the pod splits down the middle and opens.

I reach down with shaking hands and lightly trace my fingers down her cheek. When her warm breath touches my skin, tears blur my vision, and I almost miss when her eyes pop open. I still as she blinks her gorgeous blue eyes at me, then unconsciousness takes her again…and I'm trapped.

I can't leave my sister behind.

I can't lose her again.

Stryker doesn't say a word as I gently lift my sister into my arms, her weight so light, she barely weighs more than a breeze. He grabs the syringe, and my breath catches. I'm not sure if I'm hoping he'll smash it and take my choice away or not.

My sister's life is in his hands.

My gaze meets his troubled blue eyes, then his mouth firms. "Anita will decide. As much as I want to smash the vial, it's not our choice."

"Excellent," Jackal responds with a throaty purr. "I'll clear the way for you to escape. We're going to have such fun adventures! One big, happy family. You'll see! But you better hurry. Stuart is at the end of his patience, and it's usually Anita who takes the brunt of his anger."

Any debate about what to do is gone, and we both hurry out the door.

We have no choice but to trust Jackal.

At least for now.

At the first opportunity, I'm going to hunt the fucker down. There won't be a server on the planet where he'll be able to hide that I won't find him.