Chapter 101
“Can you tell us where we’re going?” Jo asked Cassidy as they sprinted down a hallway perpendicular to the one that they were supposed to be running to.
“There’s a skylight in the president’s apartment,” she explained. “Talk about a stupid design. But I guess they figured no one would ever be able to fly over and drop a bomb through it. It’s probably that bulletproof glass, but it still seems dumb to put a skylight in the president’s home.”
“He doesn’t live in the White House?” Jo asked.
“No. That’s a facade. His real quarters are here.”
Jo agreed with Cassidy that it was stupid to put a skylight in the president’s residence, but if it was true, she was glad that was the case. She would’ve wondered how in the world they were supposed to get in there, but with Cassidy along with them, there was a good chance they’d be able to break the door down, no matter what sort of lock the president was using.
The hallway they were in seemed to be deserted. Over Jamie’s IAC, Jo could see that all of the prisoners were almost to the roof. Jamie was already standing up there, his hands cuffed behind his back with some sort of handcuffs that didn’t allow him to use his powers. Jo didn’t know how the Vampires had managed that, but she had to wonder if there wasn’t scandium involved.
“Jo! We’ve got a pretty big problem down here!” Elliott’s voice shouted in her head.
Thinking they were almost to the president’s suite, Jo wasn’t happy about the interruption, but it was clear that Elliott wasn’t going to be ignored. “What happened?”
“I thought Margie said she’d sent us her best people, but this one chick, Blanche, has got to be the most incompetent Hunter I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something.”
“What the hell did she do?” Jo asked, thinking it couldn’t be that bad.
“Well, for starters, she just shot Cale!”
Jo literally stopped in her tracks. “What?”
“Yeah. Yep. She surely did.” Elliott sounded angry, not sad, so Jo had to assume that the Healer was okay, but she didn’t check her IAC to see. “He’s so busy healing himself, he won’t be able to help if one of these Hunters gets shot. And if this moron doesn’t get her shit in one sock, she’s gonna bite it.”
“Okay--tell her to stay back, and let Margie know.” Jo didn’t know what else to tell him. She saw Cassidy and Scott slowing, looking over their shoulders, wondering what the hell she was doing, so she kicked into gear.
“I would but I’m a little busy not letting my team get killed right now.”
The idea that this chick could accidentally shoot Zane and kill him came to mind. Even though she was trying to do several things at the same time, she got on the IAC to Margie. “What is the story with Blanche?”
“Blanche?” Margie echoed. “Blanche isn’t supposed to be with you! She’s a new recruit. You should have Bianca and Jonathan with Elliott and Daniel and Pamela with you.”
“Well, that’s not what we’ve got, Margie,” she said. “And she just shot Cale, so….”
“Goddamit!” Margie screamed. The next several seconds was a tirade of Margie shouting and cursing at her subordinates, apparently trying to figure out what went on.
Jo didn’t have time for that. She saw what had to be the president’s rooms in front of them. “Just call her off, Margie. That’s all we can do at this point.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll order her to drop back. I’ll send in some reinforcements, too.”
“I’m sure Elliott would appreciate that. Send them through the House Office Building. That’s where they’re pinned down.”
“Got it,” Margie said. Jo had to turn her IAC communication with the other woman off then. It was too distracting.
“This is it,” Cassidy shouted. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, but what exactly is the plan?” Jo asked.
“We’re going to knock this door down, explode that skylight, and get up on the roof,” Cassidy said.
“Right--and then what?” Scott asked.
“And then… we’re all going for a ride.”
“Huh?” Jo asked, not quite sure she knew what her aunt was talking about. It didn’t matter. Cassidy was already using her abilities to blast through the door. It erupted in a thousand splinters and went flying everywhere. An alarm bleared, so loud, it made Jo’s teeth chatter. She had to ignore it, though.
They went tearing through the house, headed for the bedroom where the skylight was. A few servants went scurrying, hiding, and screaming. They found the bedroom quickly enough. Standing beneath the skylight, Cassidy said, “I’m going to have to kill the IAC shield to make sure this doesn’t go badly.”
“All right,” Jo said. Cassidy closed her eyes and held up both of her hands, concentrating on the skylight.
It took a few seconds longer than it had to get through the barrier, but the skylight exploded, and when it did, the glass particles rained down on all of them. Jo closed her eyes and ducked her head. Pieces of glass covered her hair, a few of them scratching her skin. She didn’t care, and she didn’t have much time to think about it. As soon as the skylight was out of the way, the three of them were flying up through the opening onto the roof.
The second they emerged, a barrage of gunfire came flying at them from every side. Cassidy had them covered in a bubble of protection, but the Vampires weren’t giving up. Not only were they shooting at the three of them, on the other side of the rooftop, Jo could see that the firing squad had been assembled across from the prisoners.
The president himself was standing to the side of them, dressed in a suit, his silver eyes gleaming in the moonlight.
Scott shouted as the bullets began to fly. “Dad! No!”
Cassidy was so far away from the prisoners, and she was already so overly exerted, Jo didn’t know if she’d be able to stop those bullets from hitting their marks in time. The three of them began to run toward the prisoners, Cassidy’s hands up, Scott still shouting, and everything seeming to move in slow motion.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
