Page 54 of Sloth
Barry shook his head. “Cardinal City. I don’t know more. I’m sorry.”
Sloan caught Max’s hard stare. “We have to stop them here.”
“Do that and your cover is blown. They’ll know you’ve been here.”
She bit her lip. “We have to do something.”
“Let the animals loose,” Barry offered. “Open the cages and the doors. Let them loose on the base and with no way of controlling them, the soldiers will have to put them down.”
“It would create a distraction for us to get out unnoticed with Barry,” Max noted.
“And it will buy us time to collect Barry’s daughter. Good enough for me.” Sloan activated her mic and spoke to her brother: “Pride. We’re coming out with Pinkerton. Be ready in five.”
When she met Barry’s jittery gaze, she already noted his sin lessening. She smiled. “It’s going to be fine, Barry. Stick with us.”
Fifteen
With lungs heavingand thighs pumping, Max ran through the underground base, refusing to look back. Minutes ago, they’d left the animal cages open. The distraction would only work if the animals breeched the lab. Hopefully, the outbreak would be contained to that level, attracting confusion and commotion, leaving them the freedom to escape with Barry unnoticed.
It wasn’t until they reached the ground level that shit went sideways.
The guards Sloan had put to sleep were awake and standing before the exit door outside, barking orders into walkie-talkies. One of them held Sloan’s crossbow and was attempting to draw back the rope to nock by hand. The action was difficult for any man without a rope-cocking device, and probably why Sloan liked using the weapon—she could do it effortlessly. Both guards, dressed in only their undergarments, turned their way. Expressions turned staunch, eyes widened in betrayal and then narrowed with intent. It all took a split second to comprehend, but long enough for Max to register the threat, lift his rifle, point and shoot.
Sloan took out the second guard.
The gunshots rang through the compound, echoing against the mountain next to the base.
Max forced his kill-reaction deep down in a box and used the adrenaline thrumming through his blood to grab onto the petrified Barry. He launched in the direction of the chain-link fence. Getting out with the man was his top priority.
He thought Sloan was right behind him, thought she was safe, but when a female screamed, his steps faltered. He turned back, heart leaping into his throat. Locked in hand-to-hand combat, Sloan clashed with her sister. In the poorly lit courtyard of dirt, he caught glimpses of white hair flashing along with the glint of metal.Knife.
Scanning the ground, Max zoned in on Sloan’s firearm, close to where she fought. Oddly, she wasn’t going for her crossbow only feet from her, and she wasn’t using her power. He lifted his rifle, aimed, but couldn’t get a clear shot. First things first. Turning to Barry, he pulled back the torn chain-link, allowing a gap for him to fit through.
“Go,” he burst out and pointed. “Keep running due west. There are two more waiting for you, half a click that way.”
Barry crouched and ducked through, then took off full pelt. The older man wasn’t as fast as he should be. He needed a head start.
Steeling himself, Max raised his rifle and advanced on the women in battle, holding his aim, looking for an opening.
“Don’t shoot!” Sloan shouted as she ducked, swung and kicked her sister’s legs out.
Despair adjusted her footing, recovered, and stabbed at Sloan, sewing machine style. Panic gripped his heart. Sloan’s stab-proof jacket took the force, stopping the knife from piercing deep, but the peppered holes in her guard’s uniform proved how close she’d come.
This was the first time Max had seen Sloan’s sister in action. Equally matched, the two were the same height. Despair was thinner, Sloan curvier. Where empathy and longing poured from Sloan’s determined gaze, Despair’s held only cold hard calculation. The macabre dance became a symphony of violence as battle sounds grew. Bursts of breath, strikes, sharp feminine shouts, elbows crunching against bone. Max’s breath caught. Fuck this. He steadied his aim and stepped forward, ready to decimate Sloan’s attacker.
“Don’t shoot!” Sloan gasped again, dodging the blade slashing across her hand, drawing blood.
“Use your gift,” he demanded. “I’m not risking you, Sloan. Use it now.”
Emotion flared in Sloan’s eyes. She didn’t want to hurt her sister, but she had to do something. In a maneuver Max never saw coming, Sloan used her body to circle around her sister, put her in a chokehold and drop to the ground, wrestling style. Despair’s violet eyes flashed with fury, her face went red, her knife fell as she tried to release herself, and then she slumped, unconscious.
Easing her down, and heaving great lungfuls of air, Sloan’s manic eyes met Max’s. “My power didn’t work on her.”
He only let the panic engulf him for a moment before the alarm sounded. A great, whooping wail that almost shattered their eardrums.
“Let’s go.” He waved her forward.
She hesitated. “Should we take her?”
