Page 52 of Beta Lies and Cursed Lives
Electric bolts embrace Nyx’s fingers, and the tingle they cause around my neck grows almost unbearable, but there is an audible click over the crackle, and I gain control of all four collars in her grasp. My eyes burn, my brain tingles, and I am at one with the locking mechanisms, commanding them to disengage.
Then, the power units fall to the floor, and Nyx holds up her empty hands.
“Fuck yes,” she breathes.
I blink rapidly, the heat in my eyes dissipates. Standing up straight, I rub my neck, bare for the first time in over a decade.
Free.
I look to my pack, breath caught in my throat. All of them look ready to jump for joy, but there’s no time. My brain tingles again, my eyes heat. Something is happening. The security system.
“They know,” I tell them. “Or they will. Soon. We have to move.”
“Nyx,” Mira chokes, and I know she doesn’t want to leave her friend behind, but we must.
“Go,” she tells us all as she gathers the dead collar boxes. “I’ll ditch these.” She looks at Mira. “Stay safe.”
“I’ll lead us out.” Colton heads for the door. “I’ll listen for anyone coming for us.”
Their thoughts.
“I’ll monitor the security system.” I take a second to push my connection outward, feeling for anything useful, and finding it. “Eastern helipad. The two helicopters are there. Let’s move.”
Colton opens the door, and we all file out into the hallway. We still stay as quiet on our feet as possible while jogging along the corridor and down the stairs to the main level. Colton puts his fist up in a stop command when we reach the bottom, then motions for us to go in the opposite direction we need to. I trust him, as we all do, so we duck behind a doorway just as a couple of soldiers, rifles on their backs and sidearms on their thighs, walk into the entryway from the back entrance. They chat as they head up the stairs, and we wait until they’re out of sight to start moving quietly again.
There’s no additional feed from the security system, but I feel the cameras on the outside of the building. As we keep moving, I push a signal to them to turn in the opposite direction we’re going, keeping us out of view and hopefully not alerting anyone who may be watching the feeds live.
No one has ever attempted an escape like this. They won’t expect it.
Colton stops us again at the back door, open into the darkness. “There are guards at the helipad,”he broadcasts in our minds.
Hang on,I think back at him. There are alarms I could set off all around us, but I need to choose the right one that won’t have soldiers crossing our path before we can get clear. There are two possibilities, and I pick the furthest one, hoping I’ve made the right choice. My brain singing, my eyes searing, the wail of an alarm fills the air. I hear the ruckus of the soldiers nearest to us as they hustle to the source, and Colton shouts into my mind, “Run!”
As we move, I reach out to the furthest helicopter with my curse, extending my arm toward it and willing it to lose power. At the same time, I extend my other arm to the nearest helicopter and will it to come to life, the burning of my eyes growing unbearable, the hum in my brain deafening. But I have to keep going. We have to get away.
“Get in!” I grit aloud, and they do. With my pack secured, I get into the control seat and meld with the controls, my mind and body becoming one with the machine in a way I’ve never done before. There’s no time to bask in awe. We rise off the ground at my slightest whim, the machine following my will. I’m vaguely aware of Colton whispering in my mind, “Three hundred fifty klicks north, northwest.”It is a very specific direction, and I follow it, just as the alarm begins to wail and a peppering of pings and pops hit the belly of the helicopter.
The soldiers’ futile attempt to stop us in an armored helicopter.
What’s more, I feel a tracking device and a remote control unit. My mind reaches for them, and they are gone at my command, shorted and useless. For good measure, I kill the radio communication as well.
Colton is beside me, Aubrey behind him, and Mira at my back. They shuffle to put headsets on, and Colton passes one to me. I slip it over my head and ears, and everything around me fades away into a form of tunnel vision. My every muscle twitch commands the helicopter.
I am truly at one with the machine.
Part of me is exhilarated, the other is scared to death.
But I have to get my pack to safety.
“Good work taking out the other helo,”Colton says in my mind. “That will buy us time.”
I nod in confirmation, keeping part of my attention on commanding the machine to go in the right direction. Mira places a hand on my shoulder, which I grasp, rubbing her bare fingers in gentle strokes.My beautifulhime, I think.I will keep you safe.
Mira’s hand stills on my shoulder, and I feel her lean forward. “I heard you,” she says into the microphone. “Just now. In my headset. I heard you! But...you didn’t speak.”
Did I communicate through technology? Using my mind?
“Stranger things, bro,” Colton offers aloud, and I turn my head to find him amused.
