Page 109 of Destined to Fight

I’ll be working late. Sleep well.

She shut her mind to him again and went to lie on the bed. It would be just over thirty minutes before Dom brought harmless chaos to the neighborhood.

Anxiety poked at her mind, begging entry. This plan had to work, or something would happen to Ginna.

She wished her powers were stronger. If she had control of time, she could likely pull this off without anyone’s help. That was something she’d start working on after Ginna was safe, though, no matter who she was working for.

Time ticked by. Just as she was about to start pacing, a loud bang sounded outside. Dom was here.

An idea came to her. Kelly opened and slammed the door to the room. She centered her mind on all the water in the house and flooded the training room. Hopefully, that would make everyone think she was there instead of sneaking out the back.

She heard everyone in the house run to the front to defend it. Another bang sounded followed by the short successive pops of firecrackers.

Tapping into Kade, she listened for the guards. They spoke to each other from different areas in the house, trying to make sure they had all the bases covered.

If she ever made it back, she’d talk to them about securing the asset first and defending it later. Now, she was thankful they assumed she was okay as she quietly opened the door to Kade’s balcony.

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She didn’t bother to close the door for fear it would make more noise. She grabbed the railing on the balcony and carefully climbed over it, lowering herself to hang from the roof of the porch. Then she dropped the five feet or so to the ground.

Crouching low, she looked around to make sure no one was watching the backyard. They were all still occupied with the front of the house, where the commotion was coming from.

Kelly crept to the back fence and quietly lifted the latch that opened the wrought-iron gate. She squeezed through and softly closed the gate behind her.

The cars in front of the neighbors’ houses for the next two blocks were all locked, which surprised the hell out of her. Just as she was about to give up and run for it, a pizza delivery car passed by and pulled into the driveway a few houses up.

Kelly ran to catch up to it, then ducked behind a bush. A thin blonde got out, grabbing her pizza bag as she went. She looked ridiculously bored with the evening. Lucky for her, Kelly was about to make things interesting.

The girl left the car’s engine running and slammed the door before walking up the driveway to the house.

Kelly crept up to the car and carefully lifted the door latch. A barely audible click sounded as the latch released. Kelly then flung open the door and jumped inside. She threw the car into reverse and careened out of the driveway.

As she looked up, Kelly saw the girl drop the pizza on the sidewalk and run toward her.

“I’m so sorry!” she yelled, not that the girl would hear her.

She jerked the car into drive and peeled out of the neighborhood, leaving smoke in her wake.

The little car protested as Kelly pressed the pedal all the way to the floor. The engine whined and revved at an unhealthy level before it shifted into third gear. The poor car was not meant for this kind of mission.

“Come on, baby, you can do it.” Kelly cheered it on.

She made it out of the neighborhood and headed toward downtown Dallas. Her months on the street were about to pay off as she easily navigated the streets of the city. It would be no trouble to make it from Highland Park to downtown. The challenge would be making it there before Kade flew in to stop her.

She didn’t dare reach out to check on him now. If he felt her poking at his consciousness, he might try to push his way into her mind, and she couldn’t let him know what was going on until Ginna was safe.

Kelly pushed that little car to its limit. By the time she reached the tracks downtown and slammed it into park, steam was coming from the hood. The poor thing was done for.

Before she opened the door, Kelly centered herself and collected her thoughts. Feeling her belt, she made sure her karambits were tight in their holster. She even ran her hands over her hair, making sure her bun was smooth. She was all nerves.

Ready as she’d ever be, she pulled the door handle and stood from the car. She didn’t bother shutting the door behind her.

The warehouse was at the side of the tracks, perfectly positioned to load and unload cargo as the trains stopped in front of it.

Checking her surroundings, Kelly didn’t notice anyone watching her. It seemed odd that they wouldn’t have a lookout. Then she remembered she was dealing with Arcane, and they never seemed to worry about others crashing the party.

What it must be like to live without fear, she wondered.

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