Page 95 of Of Daggers and Deceit

Bohdi’s eyes narrowed on the doorway. My decision to take him out and away from Raya would hurt me the most tonight.

I squeezed Sly’s hand once, the first signal to raise our guns. We had each planned who we would take out, so we worked in synchronicity, not giving them an opportunity to fight. The quicker the better was our goal.

Sly squeezed my hand twice in quick succession—our signal to go.

I fired four shots, one each for the twins and two for Bohdi, as Sly covered the remaining Alphas. I knew Bohdi would fight it with everything he had. I knew he was stronger than he knew. I had seen it.

Bohdi roared, his hand coming up to his neck to yank out the darts as he staggered towards the invisible threat, marking our location behind him.

The others went down fast. I knew how quickly the toxin worked; I’d tested it on myself earlier in the week.

Bohdi staggered forward, his face feral as he fought against the intrusion seizing the muscles in his limbs with everything he had. Sly fired another dart, landing in the same spot as the two I had let loose on my friend.

I cast a nervous glance towards him. That was triple the dose of the others.

Bohdi fell to the floor in a twitching mess, and a small slip of panic escaped me when he began to drag himself towards the exit. I fought everything inside me to hold my position and follow through with the plan, no matter how painful.

His movements slowed, and I could finally exhale when he slumped to the floor. I would have to check on him later; I was already running out of time.

As I looked around at the silent room, my stomach turned at the thought of what came next.

Now, there was only one target left.

RAYA

I’d grabbed what I needed from the house, enough of our favoured belongings so we had something with us to take, including a small bit of food to last us a few nights. My heart was racing with nerves. This was it: our last shot at freedom, our only hope to escape.

I was surprised at how quiet the desert was tonight, the only sound a single insect playing a mournful tune as I punched in the code to enter the premises, moving my feet quickly down the steps to the underground level. With the moon rising higher, we were running out of time. Our shield would soon be thinning.

The last beep sounded, and I pushed open the door to the training floor on the base level but balked at the empty space. I scanned the room, silently closing the door behind me.

“Bodhi?” I called out, expecting him to come out from one of the side rooms. Perhaps everyone had been late to get ready tonight.

But there was no reply. Caution flooded my veins, making my chest tighten and the daggers slide into my grip. I palmed them nervously as I edged the perimeter of the room, making my way to the door leading to the kitchen and bedrooms.

Something was wrong.

I peered around the edge of the doorway, glancing towards an empty kitchen. There was no laughter, no nervous rambling or clinks of weapons preparing for the night, which is what worried me the most. I gnawed on my lip. Where was Bodhi?

I fought to calm my breathing as I worked my way through my panic, trying to find a rational, plausible reason why no one was immediately coming towards me, but my brain came up with nothing.

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I whirled, freaked out as the figure blocked my swing with my blade, their arm still steady on mine.

“Riley?” I gasped as my vision focused on her. “What are you doing here?”

She pursed her lips. “There has been a change of plan, Raya.”

I frowned, my daggers thankfully sliding back into the cuffs on my wrist. “What do you mean? Where is Bodhi?”

She squeezed my wrists tightly, a single hand holding me. “I’m sorry, sister.”

As the final word fell from her lips, I barely had an opportunity to move before I felt something pierce my neck, and I lifted my hand to yank it out, holding a dart up to my line of sight in horror.

“What is this?” I yelled as I portaled to escape, though she clung to me and followed, landing expertly, just as we had practised so many times when we were kids.

She yanked me forward, her grip tight and strong as I threw myself at her, portaling us both to a different position in the room as I tackled her to the ground, not allowing her to orient herself. I landed on top of her, ducking beneath the swing of her free hand, her other still clinging unbearably tight to my own.

She knew that if she let me go, I would escape. The darts. This empty room. Bodhi missing.

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