Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (22 page)

Chapter 34

We Fall—Like Really Fall

–TANNER–

“I thought the FBI would be impenetrable or something. I was kind of hoping for some more secret agent stuff. Anyway, do your thing so we can get back to the ball,” Ryland says, shrugging her shoulders.

Kyle gives her a look and shakes his head, saying, “Um, this isn
’
t exactly where we do our thing. Your ball’s gonna have to wait.”

“What do you mean? You said you needed in here?” Ryland asks.

Okay, Ryland is totally useless. All she cared about all day was getting ready for some big ball. She spent all day playing dress up and extreme makeover while we were planning. I mean the girls look amazing and stuff, but we kind of have some important things to do here—like stopping the Keepers from getting more heads to put on the walls like some freakish trophy display. Especially ours. I’m kind of attached to mine.

I know Solé and Devon had fun too, being girls and all, but at least they know what we
’
re here for. Solé was brilliant. I had no idea she could play a part so well, and the way she danced was incredible. Devon, well, she
’
s perfect. She
’
s beautiful and girly like my sister, but she
’
s also brilliant and focused.

Devon quietly tells her, “This is just the routers and stuff. We need to get my brothers connected to the system from inside the firewall.”

“Oh,” Ryland says.

I can
’
t tell if she
’
s disappointed she can
’
t get back to the ball right away or if she
’
s unsure what that means.

Devon takes out her tablet, then she and Kyle start following wires to different connections.

“Put this in there,” Devon says.

Kyle follows her lead. He may have known how to get here, but Devon is clearly in charge now. After a few minutes of jargon passing between the Js and Devon, they say they
’
re in.

“This is amazing,” one of the Js says. “These guys are so paranoid they have cameras watching the guys watching the cameras. Total morons.”

“Guide us, guys,” I tell them.

They tell us to go and stop, down the hall, around the corner, through doors, and down more halls. As we come across keypads, they somehow feed us the codes. They can see every camera and surveillance point, so five teenagers are able to walk unnoticed through the bowels of Keeper headquarters.

Ryland starts to hum some more, and Kai has to shush her. She kind of scrunches her face in annoyance, but follows orders. We stop at a corner, and Kyle peeks around.

I can hear voices, but I can
’
t see what
’
s going on.

Kyle looks at me and says, “We need to get through that door. Can you turn that camera away?”

I shake my head. “Not from here,” I tell him.

Kai says, “
You can. It
’
s not like a proximity thing. Just look at it, and tell it what you want.”

I’m totally unsure about this. I peek around the corner and see two guys talking. They have guns in some very visible holsters.

Okay, I can do this. It
’
s just another ATM. I look at the camera, and . . . nothing happens. I pull back and shake my head at Kai. He gives me a stern look and motions for me to try again. I poke my head back out and stare at it.

Then I see it. I feel like it’s getting closer to me until I almost go inside of it. I can see the wires and the circuits and small electrical pulses. I find the motorized mechanism and tell it to activate. I can see what the camera is seeing. I start to look up and over to the side. The view changes to match my thoughts. I have it stay facing away from our entry and away from the guarded doorway.

Devon steps out into the hallway. One of the guards jerks his head toward her. She freezes then he shakes his head and goes back to the conversation. I can hear the Js giving her the keypad numbers as she
’
s walking. Then, the other guard jerks his head around. My stomach tightens watching all of this. When he turns back, she continues to walk toward them.

She cautiously walks right past them and punches in the code. When the lock clicks, both guards look at the door slowly swinging open.

Devon steps to the opposite side of the guards and says, “Hi, guys.”

They swing around to face her and look at each other confused.

One of them says, “Did you hear that?”

The other guy shrugs and nods. When they look back at the door, she says, “You don
’
t have to be rude.”

At that, they both jerk their heads back in her direction. She starts backing up, still talking, and they follow her voice. These guys have no idea what
’
s going on. It’s awesome.

Kyle waves at us and says, “Okay, now.”

While their backs are to us, we hurry through the door. I hide myself in the doorway and wave to Devon. She stops talking, walks through the door, and starts to close it behind her. She gives them the most adorable wave as their confused faces disappear from view.

–RYLAND–

Okay, I’m not trying to get back to the ball or only thinking about the ball. I just don
’
t really know what to do. I have no role in this little escapade.

I don’
t do computers, Devon is the one dealing with the guards, and Kai is the fighter. What am I supposed to do? I
’
m completely useless. They even used Solé as the distraction. Instead of me.

I
’
m the one wearing the stupid dress I can
’
t breathe in. I
’
m the one wearing heels intended only to be deployed as a torture device.

So, Devon stays behind as our guard or lookout or something. Since she can
’
t be seen, she
’
s the perfect one to warn us of their movements. She isn
’
t exactly excited about staying behind. She watches Tanner go with huge puppy-dog eyes, but she doesn
’t complain.

We sneak into this weird closet. I realize the closet is full of evidence-type lockers. I open one. Inside are photos, memos, paraphernalia, all revolving around a beautiful girl named Sophia. She’s only six years old with chocolate skin and ebony hair. Her wide eyes stare at me, smiling from a school photo. She was “taken out on June 29 by—” I stop reading and shut the locker as anger boils inside me.

The boys are pulling stuff out of these backpacks I didn
’
t even know they had. “Where did those come from?” I ask.

Tanner glares at me.
“While some of us were off playing dress up, the rest of us were actually preparing.”

I bite back a sharp retort which I know won
’
t help anything. “Do you think there are lockers in here on us?” I muse.

Kai starts up, turning to stare at the lockers. I know what he
’
s thinking. There are lockers in here on his parents. Maybe some of their belongings are inside. Maybe he can find a picture to remember them by.

“I
’
m going to do something,” he mumbles. “I
’
ll be back in five.”

“You need to loop the cameras,”
Tanner demands.

Kai practically growls at him, but pulls out a small laptop and sets to working on something. “Done,” he huffs and storms off.

“
Kai,
” Tanner hisses. “Kai, we need to stick to the plan.”

Kai doesn
’t listen. It’
s just me, Kyle, and Tanner now. I turn to look at them. “What exactly is next?”

“There are rotating lasers on a separate server we can
’
t hack. I
’
ll need to move them so we can get inside,” Tanner answers slowly, annoyed.

“Get inside where?” I ask, looking for a door.

“The vents,” Kyle says with a gulp.

“We
’
re going to crawl through the vents?” I ask, half-shocked, half-excited. This really is like a
007
movie.

“Yes, but there
’
s about a half mile drop to the server room we need,” Tanner says slowly, not looking me in the eye.

“In the vents?” Kyle squeaks nervously. “I
’
m claustrophobic. I can
’
t—I won
’
t—” He backs away, shaking his head, eyes wide with horror.

“Kyle,” Tanner says, trying to get him to focus. “I need you to come. I need you to plant the codes.”

“No,” Kyle says. “I
’
m not coming. You just need this.” He hands Tanner a small flash drive.

“What if something goes wrong?” Tanner asks. “I need you there. I need you to come with us.”

Kyle backs away, bumping into a locker with a loud crash.

“Tanner,” I say, taking over. “He
’
s not coming.”

Tanner looks like he
’
s about to blow a gasket. According to his plan, the girls are both out, and we
’
ve been abandoned by both guys. It
’
s up to us now.

“I won
’
t be able to hold all of the lasers at once, so stay right behind me. I
’
m going to keep them at the top of the shaft. That means you
’
ll only have about one foot of clearance,” he says directly to me, completely ignoring Kyle.

“You
’
re joking,” I say flatly. Is he insane?

“There
’
s only about 100 feet before the drop.”

“And what exactly are we going to do at the two mile drop?” I ask sharply. “
Die?
”

“You
’
re going to carry us, me, to the bottom. And it
’
s only a half mile,” he says pointedly.

I cough and sputter. “You mean I
’
m supposed to jump down a two—I
’
m sorry, a half-mile drop while holding you? You
’
re crazy. That
’s impossible.
”

“Kai says you can do it,” he says, staring directly into my eyes.

I want to punch him and Kai and everyone else who planned this ludicrous mission. “Fine,” I spit. “Let
’
s go die.”

Unfortunately, there
’
s zero way I can crawl through an air vent in these heels or my dress. I yank the heels off, throw them on the ground, and then tear my dress at the slit all the way around. Now it barely covers me, but I have no choice.

I glare at Kyle when he stares at me. Then I yank the vent cover off and climb inside. “Ready?”
I ask Tanner.

“I said behind me,” Tanner mutters as he crawls in after me.

A hundred feet of army crawling through a vent that
’
s about one square foot around is awful, especially in a ruined twelve-thousand-dollar gown. My knees hurt. I bang my elbows about a hundred times, and I
’
m so scared to touch the stupid lasers that I keep cutting myself on the screws in the bottom of the vent. It takes an agonizingly long time to reach the downward shaft, but when we do, I’m in complete and total awe.

It’s about ten feet wide, circular, and seems to descend forever into the darkness below. “Great,” I mumble. “We found the pit of Tartarus. At least Cronos will consume our souls when we get to the bottom. Saves you from being haunted by my jaded ghost forever.”

“What?” Tanner asks from behind me.

“Nothing,” I snap.

“Are we there?” Tanner asks. “There aren
’
t any lasers in this section.”

“That
’
s good because I have an idea.” I slide out onto the tiny lip around the edge, gripping it with my toes.

“Get out,” I say. “I need to be able to grab you.”

“Okay,” he says breathlessly, staring down below him.

When he’s hanging by his fingertips from the vent shaft, I jump down, grab him around the waist, and hit the opposite wall with my foot. The boom echoes all around us, so loud my ears are burning. I don
’
t have time to think about that though because I
’
m bouncing off, jumping back and forth between the two sides, falling as we go. I
’
m hoping this works. I
’
m praying this is keeping our momentum slow enough that when we reach the bottom we don
’
t slam into the floor and become Ascunse pancakes.

My legs are aching, and Tanner is so heavy. My arms are like lead. I
’
m weak and tired and . . .

We slam into the floor so hard I cry out in pain. I can
’
t breathe or think or move. It hurts; it hurts; it hurts.

Tanner gets up next to me. “
Well,
” his voice is tight and small. “That wasn
’
t so bad.
”

I get up, rubbing my aching legs. I
’
m dirty and bruised and bloody and annoyed.

He opens a panel into the hall. “We just take this to the—” he breaks off.

The hall is filled with Keepers. Armed Keepers.

“Ugh,” I groan.

Chapter 35

A Half-Mile Down to the Smithsonian Magic Show

–TANNER–

“What was that?”

“Are you okay?”

“Where are you?”

All of the voices are in our heads at once. Everyone’s yelling while Keepers are running toward us. Ryland and I look at each other then back at the group of armed Feds closing in. Then I notice how messed up my sister is. She’s bruised and bleeding, and her dress is torn and barely covering her.

She should be crying or freaking out or huddling in a corner somewhere. Instead, she has a determined and ominous look about her. She looks at the group of agents now surrounding us, and I start to feel sorry for them. They seriously have no idea what’s about to hit them.

She looks at me and slowly turns her head, and I swear I see a smile on her face before she vanishes. One-by-one, the agents begin to fall. I watch everything as if it’s occurring in slow motion. Once they begin falling, the remaining agents
’
faces take on a look of absolute terror. Then, each of them fall in turn.

Ryland reappears holding a gun in each hand. It looks like a scene out of
Resident Evil
with my sister standing in a torn dress and covered in battle scars like Milla Jovovich.

“The code,” she says.

“What happened?” the Js say at once.

“Do you know where I am?” she asks pointedly.

“Yes, are you okay?” they ask.

“Then give me the code,” she says as she turns and walks toward the door.

I stand dumbfounded as I hear the Js spit out the code. Ryland punches in the numbers on the keypad and opens the door.

She holds the door open then turns to me, asking, “Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there like an idiot?”

I step around the agents lying unconscious or dead on the floor around me and join her running through the door. I really don
’
t know what to think. My sister went totally postal on those guys. Did she kill them? She now has a total look of determination on her face. I
’
m not sure if I even recognize her.

“What am I looking for Kyle?” I say, hoping he can still hear us.

“Do they know you
’
re there?” Kyle asks.

“It was too fast. They didn
’
t call in,” Ryland tells him.

“At that level, you just need a terminal that
’
s private,” Kyle says. “If you can place it without them knowing, they won
’
t know to look for it.”

“This floor is not exactly empty,” I tell him. “Where do we go?”

“Got it,” I hear the Js say. “Stay right there. I
’
m checking surveillance around you.”

“I thought Kai looped it?” I ask.

“I did,” Kai says.

“He did. They’re watching a loop, but I can still see the live feed,” the J says. “We . . . I mean, you have to work quickly before they realize they
’
re not live. Hold there.”

We stand at a corner, listening to a couple of agents talking. I hear the sound of their voices growing quieter then the sound of a door silences their voices.

“Go left and find the first office,” the Js tell us.

We start walking and realize there are windows in the hall to a command center with a huge group of agents watching video feeds and manning computer terminals. Ryland gets down on her knees and starts crawling under the windows. I can
’
t just stay there, so I catch up and crawl right behind her.

Her newly destroyed dress is clearly not made for this kind of covert activity. I have to look away to avoid seeing too much of my sister.

“Here. Take this,” she whispers as she slides a gun on the floor back to me.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” I retort.

“Just take it,” she commands.

She gets to the other side of the window and stands up. She tries the office door across the hallway. It
’
s unlocked. Unbelievable. I follow her in, and we duck down to hide from the office window. We scramble over to the desk, grab the laptop, and put it on the floor.

“Okay, what do I do Kyle?” I ask.

“Just put the flash drive in, and an install will launch,” he says.

I put the flash drive in, but nothing happens. “It
’
s not doing anything.”

“Hold on,” one of the Js says. “I need to get into the system. This’ll take a few minutes.”

“
We don’
t have a few minutes,” Ryland spits. “I have no idea how long we have.”

“Just wait. There
’
s no one in the hallway. I
’
m almost there. I just need a few more seconds,” he says.

“Come on guys,” Kai says. “There are people coming in up here.”

“Got it,” the J says. “You should see the install on the screen.”

“I see it,” I tell him. “What do I do?”

“You click it,” Kyle says sounding frustrated.

“Where it says okay?” I ask.

“Yes,” he spits out. “Haven
’
t you ever used a computer?”

“No,” I tell him. “Remember tech stuff never really worked for me, so I never—”

“Give it to me!” Ryland says. “Okay, I
’
m clicking through.”

“I
’
m sorry,” I say, now feeling completely useless.

“It
’
s okay, Tanner. It
’
s not your fault. Sorry I snapped at you,” Ryland says, returning to her normal self. “It
’
s done. Now what?”

“That
’
s the game patch. We need you to install the guys’ detection block system,” Kyle says.

“How do I do that?” Ryland asks.

“I
’
ll do that,” Devon says. “Give me the IP.”

“Here it is, sis,” one of the Js says.

“Got it. I
’
m in,” Devon says. “This one will take a while.”

“Someone’s coming,” the J says. “This can be done remotely.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

I’m feeling totally useless. I can
’
t believe Kyle didn
’
t come with us. How do they expect me to know how this stuff works? I
’
ve never even been able to have an iPod or a video game before. I wonder if that
’
s why my parents never gave me any electronics. Right then, I realize they must have known what I was, I mean, what my Apt was. Did they know my parents?

“It means get back up here,” Kai says. “And hurry. People are starting to come in. We need to go.”

“It should be finished by the time you get back,”
Devon tells us.
“I have to keep working. Meet me back here.”

“Coming,” Kyle says.

“I
’
ll be there,” Kai says.

We put the laptop back on the desk and scramble back to the wall under the window. I can hear footsteps come up to the room we
’
re in and stop. I take in a deep breath, and Ryland taps me on the shoulder. Oh, great. I can tell this guy is looking in the window, and, like a total idiot, I left the gun in the middle of the floor.

I hear the sound of the doorknob turning as Ryland gives me a dirty look. Just then, I hear a voice in the hall. Ryland vanishes and reappears holding the gun. She slams it into my chest and holds her finger up to her lips telling me to be quiet.

“Hang on a second. I have to check this out,”
a voice says.

“Come on. They
’
re about to start,” another one says.

I can tell Ryland is about to pounce on another unsuspecting agent when the door begins to open. Just as she
’
s about to demolish another agent, the door stops.

“Huh. I could have sworn I saw . . .” the voice says.

“Those Ascunse kids have you all jumpy, haven
’
t they?” the other one teases.

“Shut up,” the first voice says, and the door closes. “
We haven
’
t seen anything like them before.”

“Oooo,” the other voice taunts as they get further away. “I
’
m pretty sure they won
’
t be in here.”

I hear the sound of a door closing in the distance, and I look at my sister who may be a tiny bit disappointed the door didn
’
t actually open. Anyway, I
’
m glad it didn
’
t.

“Now. How do we get back?” Ryland asks.

“
Well
. . . my original plan was the same way we came in,” I say shrugging my shoulders.

–RYLAND–

I don’
t really know how else to respond, so I just start laughing. Go out the same way we came in? That
’
s ridiculous.

First of all, my dress is torn to shreds. I don
’
t have any shoes. I
’
m bruised and bleeding. I just knocked out what seemed like several dozen Keepers. There’s absolutely no possible way I’m carrying Tanner back up that half mile.

He stares at me, confused and concerned. So, I change tactics and glare at him as though he’s a complete idiot—which, right now, he is.

“Seriously?” I snap. “Ask the twins or Kyle or someone how else we can get out of here.”

Tanner stares at the ground for a minute, frowning. He spits out something about not everyone talking at once. Finally, he turns back to me and says, “Apparently the only other way out is the way
they
came in,” he says, nodding at the unconscious Keepers as we walk down the hall.

“Great,” I mumble. “And how did they get down here?”

“They took a security-coded elevator. It scans your voice for a passcode, has a number pad for a second passcode, takes a retina scan for a third, and uses your thumbprint for a fourth,” he says confidently.

“Oh,” I say, dumbfounded. “Sounds like a real treat.”

“Kyle, Kai,” Tanner says suddenly.

He’s quiet for a few seconds.

“You two need to meet up with Devon and get out front. Solé’s in the limo waiting for you.”

“Ummm . . . what about us?” I question irritatedly.

He turns to look at me like I
’
m some sort of alien creature whose neon skin is emitting dangerous radiation. “We can
’
t meet them out front. They
’
ll have to catch up with us.”

“Catch up with us?”
I demand.
“Aren
’
t we behind?”

“No,” Tanner says slowly. “We
’
re going to end up quite a ways from FBI headquarters.”

“What? How?”

Tanner grins slyly at me. “That half mile wasn
’
t straight, and we
’
ve been traveling in the same direction the whole time.”

“Where exactly are we going to end up, Tanner?” I ask dryly, unamused.

“The National Mall,” he answers flatly, annoyed at my resistance to his newly discovered charm, or what he thinks is charm at least.

“That still doesn
’
t explain how we
’
re going to get through this insanely thorough elevator,” I point out through gritted teeth.

This is the worst plan ever. This is the worst plan ever. Worst. Plan. Ever.

Tanner looks me in the eye and says, “I can do it.”

“You can do what?” I ask. “
Impersonate a Keeper?
”

He shakes his head. “I can coerce the elevator.”

“Coerce it? Really?”

He stops talking and listens to nothing for a second. “Oh, my God! Devon?”

He
’
s shouting now. He
’
s panicked. Something must be wrong.

I can
’
t think about that now though. Tanner
’
s shouting has drawn more Keepers from the many doors and tunnels in this hole, and they
’
re racing toward us.

I take a breath and move. Shifting feels so fluid now. It
’
s like sliding into a dream. Suddenly, I
’
m in a world of my own making. I control the speed, the movements. I control what happens.

I take out thirteen Keepers before my energy runs short. There are still four left standing, four more left conscious. These I’ll have to fight. Really fight.

I start toward the first, a forty-something man with silver glasses in a white lab coat. He’s a scientist and clearly not the best fighter, but he’s in shape and definitely trained. He manages to elbow my ribs before I thrust my upturned palm into his nose, shattering it.

The next two are twins, a boy and a girl. They’re young, no older than Kyle. They must be here with their father or mother. I grab the girl
’
s ponytail and throw her to the ground like a doll. She
’
s so light. I hope none of her birdlike features shatter against the concrete floor. The boy is tougher, and he catches my jaw with his right hook before I snap his left collarbone in half.

When I turn to face the last Keeper, a scrawny twenty-something boy with a wiry frame and bright red hair, he’s holding a nine-millimeter to Tanner
’
s temple. I stop dead, and my stomach drops. My heart freezes. I try to Shift, but I have no energy left.

“Don
’
t,” I command, my voice hard and cold as ice. “If you do, I’ll burn cities to the ground in retribution. I’ll slaughter every Ordinary that lives and breathes. I’ll destroy your world and everyone in it.”

Tanner
’
s eyes go wide at the cold, manic ferocity burning through me. It’s been growing, slowly, silently. It’s been building like a fire, and it’s now consuming me. This blinding poison within me burns my skin and boils my blood.

The young man looks at me with nothing but hollow terror in his eyes. His hands are shaking where he grips the gun. He doesn
’
t want to be here right now. He’s wishing he never left his work, his experiments, to figure out who was yelling in the halls. I’ll make him wish worse. I’ll make him wish he and his parents and his grandparents and his ancestors had never even existed if he touches my brother.

“Step away from him,” I say very slowly, emphasizing each word. “I will Shift and kill you in less than a second if you don
’
t. I will snap your scrawny, pipsqueak, pasty little neck before you even see me move.”