Take Back the Skies (29 page)

‘Marcus can go jump in a hurricane,' she spat, making her father laugh.

‘Oh, I have missed that razor-sharp tongue of yours, daughter dear,' he said fondly.

‘I'm not your
daughter
any more,' she told him.

He smirked.

‘Of course you're not. I would never stand for having a street rat as a daughter. I should have known you'd end up associating with commoners. Maybe I should have offered you up for Collection when I had the chance. You would have turned out far more useful than you are now.'

‘You'll see how useful I can be! We'll bring down this
horrific experiment of yours, Nathaniel! We're going to let the authorities in Erova and Mericus know what's happening.'

Cat felt somewhat odd calling her father by his first name, but she wouldn't ever call him ‘Father' again.

‘We don't
need
those countries, Catherine. We
created
them. None of those countries would even exist in the way they do if not for the original Anglyan explorers who found them. They'll learn, though, they all will.'

‘Learn what? That you have been lying to the entire world for years?'

Nathaniel threw his head back and laughed. ‘When I set my army on them, they'll realise how wrong they were to demand independence from our glorious empire! You might stop the experiments in this compound, Catherine dear, but you'll never find my army! High up in a skyship, out of reach of your grubby little fingers. That's where the
real
experiments are – the successful ones, the ones that survive enhancement. And they're almost ready for war.' He smirked savagely and Cat suddenly realised that he was mad; completely and certifiably insane.

‘You're a fool! Those countries are far better off independent than they ever were under Anglyan reign. You won't get away with this.'

He cut her off with a laugh, eyes glinting dangerously.

‘And why is that, little Catherine? I've been kidnapping children for years, and no one has noticed. Not when I call it
recruiting
. And no one objects to rations if I tell them we're at war. Such mindless little sheep, doing what their lord tells them, not questioning a single word I say. They made it so very
easy
to get what I want, and I don't see how that's
going to change just because you managed to run off, humiliate me and now “discover” what's going on here.'

Cat smirked triumphantly, not realising how frighteningly similar she looked to the man in front of her at that moment.

‘That's because I know something you don't, Nathaniel,' she taunted. ‘And what I know is that this entire conversation has just been recorded for the world to hear.'

Nathaniel's eyes widened, and he looked around, as if expecting a large newscast camera to suddenly pop into existence.

‘You're bluffing,' he hissed.

‘I most certainly am not. Fox and I have recorded everything in this room, and more. We've found the Lathams, and we'll make sure everyone learns the truth about what you've been doing to their children. Somehow I don't think they'll be too happy about that, do you?'

Nathaniel let out a loud roar of rage, clenching his fists.

‘You little brat!' he growled. She stood her ground, chin jutting out defiantly. ‘You won't get away with this, Catherine. You or your little friend.' He reached inside his long leather trench coat, and Cat froze in shock as he pulled a gun from a holster at his hip. He aimed it steadily at her, pulling back the hammer with a mechanical click. ‘You can't expose me if you don't leave this room alive.'

Cat's heart pounded against her ribs and her brain whirled in panic. Nathaniel was armed; they weren't. And there was no scrap of sentimentality in Nathaniel that would stop him from shooting his own daughter. They should have taken one of the guns from Matt and Ben.

Suddenly, a blur of black wool and copper-coloured hair blocked her vision, and a muscular arm pulled her close against an equally muscular back. Fox had stepped in front of her. She growled in frustration. He was an idiot if he thought she was going to let him face a man with a gun.

‘Oh, how disgustingly saccharine – you've taken up with a common boy!' Nathaniel jeered, the gun still pointed at them. ‘That's all you'd be good for, little girl. Pity I didn't notice sooner – I could have made good money.'

Disgusted, Cat squared her shoulders, knowing anything that might have remained between them was gone. She would have no remorse, no regrets, whatever happened.

‘I should have done the same with your worthless mother,' Nathaniel continued. ‘She's dead, you know? Died crying her eyes out just days after you left. And as far as
everyone else is concerned you're dead too. It's time I made that rumour true.'

Cat felt breathless. She'd had her suspicions about her mother, but to have it confirmed like that was a shock. ‘You won't lay a finger on Cat,' Fox snarled.

‘Oh, so it talks,' Nathaniel exclaimed in mock surprise. ‘You're very sweet, little boy, but this is a family affair. It doesn't involve you.'

‘Fox is more of a man than you'll ever be,' Cat said.

‘Little Catherine, trying to stand up for her brat boyfriend. How quaint. It won't get you very far, though. I'll just shoot you both.'

Nathaniel moved to pull the trigger, but before Cat could blink Fox had jumped forward, diving for the gun. Cat screamed loudly, sure the gun would go off as Fox and Nathaniel crashed to the ground, both gripping the gun. Fox kicked out roughly, trying to get his opponent to release the weapon. Cat could do nothing but stand and stare as the two wrestled violently on the floor, the gun's hammer still cocked, ready to fire at any moment.

‘Get off me, you little brat!' Nathaniel snarled. Fox tugged at the gun, feeling Nathaniel's fingers loosen, but the older man abruptly rolled to the left, causing Fox to fall back, Nathaniel on top of him. The dark-haired man struggled to his knees, then jumped to his feet, using the momentum to shove Fox hard against the wall, his head slamming back. Cat gasped, watching her friend lie immobile, the gun in his unresponsive hands.

There was no time to move as Nathaniel came rushing towards her, an ugly sneer on his face as he wrapped his
large hands around her neck, shoving her down and pinning her forcefully to the ground. She choked and spluttered for breath, feeling his fingers crushing her windpipe, Nathaniel's family ring cutting into the flesh of her neck. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, her vision was full of black spots and her limbs didn't respond when she told them to move. She struggled desperately to hold on to consciousness. Just as she could feel herself slipping, there was a loud bang, and the fingers around her neck loosened. She inhaled a frantic lungful of air, which was squashed out of her almost immediately as Nathaniel's heavy body fell on top of her.

As she tried to push him off, she came into contact with something slick and hot. She stared at her hand, which was covered in thick, red liquid. Blood.

‘Cat!' She flinched instinctively at the voice, her breath coming in short, harsh pants as the heavy weight on her was lifted.

‘Cat, it's OK,' a voice murmured, and she scrambled away in panic, backing up against a crate.

‘You killed him,' she murmured feverishly, shaking her head slowly as some dim part of her brain recognised the voice as belonging to Fox. ‘You killed him!'

‘He was strangling you, Cat,' Fox replied calmly. ‘It was him or you, and I wasn't about to lose you.'

Yes, of course. Fox had saved her. Her breathing still uneven, she didn't back away as Fox approached a second time, allowing him to drop to his knees by her side, helping her sit up. His hand was on her back, rubbing gentle circles, and he pressed his forehead against hers.

‘Breathe, Cat. Just breathe, it's OK, he's gone. He can't
hurt you or anyone else ever again. I've got you, it's all right, everything is going to be fine.' Fox's low voice was all Cat could concentrate on, and she buried her face in his shirt for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She was safe; her father was dead, and he'd never hurt her again.

‘I'm OK,' she murmured, her voice coming out as more of a whimper than actual words. ‘I'm OK.' She felt a finger on her cheek, and lifted her head, meeting Fox's eyes. He brushed away the tears clinging to her cheek, smiling softly at her.

‘I've got you,' he repeated quietly. ‘You're safe.'

Before she could say or do anything, his head moved forward and his lips pressed against hers. Her eyes widened, and she froze, her hands gripping his waistcoat. He held the kiss for only a few seconds, before moving back, a faint blush rising on his freckled cheeks.

‘You kissed me,' she breathed, surprised. ‘Why … why did you kiss me?'

He snorted, rolling his eyes.

‘Honestly, how have you not noticed how utterly besotted I am with you?' he asked, stroking her cheek gently.

She blinked, stunned.

He what?

‘But … you were telling me to give James a chance. I thought … I thought you didn't like me,' she confessed.

‘James would be better for you,' he agreed in a whisper. ‘If we change the way things work around here, he'll have better standing than I have, and he'll give you a better life. I'm not nearly good enough for a girl like you, but … I'm awfully selfish. So much so that it's going to be impossible
for me to do the noble thing and let that prat of a prince have you.' His lips twitched, and Cat smiled, tentatively pressing her lips to Fox's for the briefest moment.

‘Even if that prat of a prince does want me, I don't want anyone except you,' she assured him solemnly.

This made Fox grin broadly, and he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Her eyes widened as she saw the bloody handprint she'd left on Fox's waistcoat, and felt the liquid soaking into her trousers.

‘This … really isn't the place,' she remarked with a shell-shocked laugh, trying not to stare at the dead body of her father lying a few feet away.

Fox had no such qualms and glanced over his shoulder, grimacing.

‘No, it's not,' he agreed. ‘We need to get out of here before someone comes back for the girl.'

Grabbing her audio and video recorders, her eyes landed on Nathaniel's prone body, and she saw something silver glinting on his hand. ‘Wait.' Hesitantly, she approached the dead man, kneeling down on a patch of floor that wasn't covered in blood, taking his hand and slipping the ornate Hunter family ring from the man's finger. It was much too big for her, but it was hers now. She was the head of the Hunter family, whether she liked it or not. Stowing the ring away safely in the inside pocket of her waistcoat, she turned back to Fox, both recorders in her hand.

They had all the incriminating evidence they needed.

‘Here, let me,' Fox urged, helping her attach her recorders. She smiled at him, and he grinned back, squeezing her hand when he was finished.

‘Let's get moving, then. It looks like we've got even more work to do than before, if there's a skyship out there with more of these kids aboard.'

Cat nodded. She didn't let go of his hand, needing something to concentrate on other than the mental image of her dead and bloodied father, and the two of them rushed back to the staircase. Cat was amazed no one had responded to the gunshot, but reasoned that the workers were probably all too used to strange explosion noises from the workshops.

Once downstairs, Cat had to let go of Fox's hand to let him get the lock, and within two minutes the door was flung wide open, startling Mary and James.

‘Grab your things, we need to go,' Fox said, urgency in his tone. The pair didn't even hesitate, seizing their satchels from where they'd hidden them behind the sofa. They'd changed into dark clothing, and Mary wore a scarf over her hair to cast her face into shadow.

‘Nathaniel is dead,' Cat told them hurriedly, voice hollow. ‘They'll know they have intruders as soon as someone finds his body, so the alarm could be raised any minute. We need to get out of here and meet our crew at the gate so we can get the sprogs, blow up the building and commandeer the newscast centre.'

James gaped like a fish for several moments, then shook his head.

‘You don't do things by halves, do you?' he muttered. Fox smirked, reaching into his satchel to pull out one of the canisters Ben had given him to scatter inside the building. Ben had told them to put some on the lower levels, or only the building above ground would be damaged.

Leaving the canister in the middle of the room, right beside the lamp on the coffee table, Fox turned to eye the monarchs seriously, though he was clearly speaking to the younger of the two. ‘Be careful and do everything I tell you. I won't risk us getting caught because you're being an idiot.'

Cat couldn't help but laugh quietly at the offended look on James's face.

‘Cat,' Fox said to her, ‘bring up the rear.'

Cat nodded, letting the other three leave ahead of her. She shut the door and waited for Fox to give the all clear before following the small procession silently up the stairs. At the top, Fox stuck his head out into the corridor, ushering Mary and James into the nearest alcove. They were about ten feet from the window they knew would lead them to the area outside the gate.

‘Where to now?' Mary asked, and Fox jerked a thumb to the left.

‘Window up that way,' he replied under his breath, checking the coast was clear. They followed him up the corridor, Cat at the back of the group, and reached the window without any trouble.

‘How on Tellus are we going to fit through there?' James asked in an incredulous whisper.

Fox raised an amused eyebrow at him.

‘You're scrawny – you'll fit. Hang on.' Climbing once again with spread legs up the walls of the alcove, Fox reached for the window latch and shoved the glass pane open. Peering over the edge, he held out a hand.