Memory Zero (Spook Squad 1)

“I don’t care what the monitor said—she’s gone. Check the other screens.”

He moved on. The sound of his steps faded into the distance, yet she couldn’t move. What the hell was going on? Foreboding beat a quick tattoo through her heart. Taking another deep breath, she moved on. The smoker was around the far corner.

“Hey, you,” she whispered.

He spun, weapon raised. Faster than the first, but still not fast enough. She knocked him out, eased him to the ground and grabbed his weapon. Another laser. Jack kept his men well armed, if nothing else. She wondered where he’d gotten the money.

She set the gun on the lowest setting—she didn’t want to kill anyone if it wasn’t absolutely necessary—then moved on. There was a monitor on the corner of the next building. She raised the laser and shot it. Sparks flew across the darkness, firefly bright. She sighted at the monitor farther along and took that out, too. Then she turned and ran back the way she’d come. Keeping to the side of the buildings and to the shadows, staying out of the range of monitors, she headed for the hut that held the generator.

Shouts rang through the silence, but they were coming from the area where she’d shot out the two monitors. A man appeared from the building to her left. She raised the laser and fired several shots. He went down with a gurgling sound that shuddered through her mind. She’d hit his larynx, probably made him mute. Still a hell of a lot better than death, she thought, shoving the horror of it from her mind. The door to the generator room was locked. Taking aim, she switched the laser to full and melted the shit out of the lock. Then she kicked the door open. It slammed back with the force of her blow.

Inside it was dark and unguarded. Two large generators sat on the concrete floor, and a small control board was to one side of them. There were far too many buttons on the board. She had no idea which was the right one to turn off the electricity to the fence, and it could take forever to find out. With no time for finesse, she put the laser on full and shot the hell out of the board. Metal and plastic melted away, then white light exploded, punching her backward and snatching the breath from her lungs as she was flung back against the wall. She hit the floor with a grunt. For several seconds, she struggled against the blackness threatening to snatch her mind into unconsciousness. Smoke hissed through the gloom, and red fingers of flame licked the remains of the board. Coughing slightly, she studied the generators. Sparks flew into the darkness, diamond bright against the fire. Electricity tingled across her skin, wild and somehow free. From the storm, not the generators, which were still working. She took aim again and shot them both. Then she ran like hell for the door.

She barely made it.

A gigantic rush of heated air picked her up and threw her sideways. She hit the ground hard, tasting dirt as she slid along it. Heat licked across her back, burning deep. Realizing her shirt was on fire, she rolled, dousing it. Another explosion shuddered. She cowered against the ground, throwing her arms over her head, trying to protect it as deadly spears of wood and metal arrowed through the air. Flames leapt upward, a gigantic ball that lit the night sky.

If Jan and Lyssa didn’t see or hear that, something was definitely wrong with them. Jack wouldn’t miss it; that was for certain.

Ignoring the pain of the burns on her back, she scrambled to her feet and ran for the parking lot. She didn’t get ten feet before Jack’s voice rose from the darkness like a demon from the grave.

“No farther, Sam. You’ve done enough damage for one night.”

Jack appeared suddenly to her right, holding a laser as powerful as her own. Jack, the vampire, faster than she’d ever be. She swore. The two women needed time to get up that hill and get away. Somehow, she had to provide it.

She fired haphazardly in his direction, then dove sideways. Blue-red light burned across the ground inches from her feet. She scrambled to her feet and kept on running.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Sam.”

No. Just use her. Willingly or not. Heat sizzled across the night air. She leapt for the corner of the nearby building. Sparks flew, gold and white fireflies that danced across her face as the laser burned a hole inches above her head.

Malevolence stung the night, and evil, then the sound of running steps. Her so-called friend, approaching fast. Shuddering, she scrambled back up and ran on.

“Stop. This is my last warning.”

She ignored it, ignored the sense of danger throbbing through her veins. Ignored the specter of death hovering in the storm-held skies. There was a car only a few feet away. Ten seconds was all she needed to get in, hot-wire the com-unit and get the car going. Ten seconds. Surely that wasn’t asking much.

She didn’t make it. Heat blasted into her back, throwing her to the concrete. Her head smashed against the pavement and stars danced before her eyes. She bit back a cry of pain, fighting to stand, fighting to run. To no avail. Her back was wreathed in fire, and her body refused to obey her wishes.

The last thing she heard before the darkness closed in was Jack’s gentle sigh.

GABRIEL WALKED TO THE EDGE of the roadside. Nestled in the valley below them was what looked to be a small military encampment. There were seven long redbrick or bluestone buildings in all, surrounded by a high wire fence. He had no doubt the fence would be electrified. The men who’d taken Sam were somewhere below them. Whether she was still there was another matter entirely.

He glanced around as Karl joined him at the edge. Hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jacket, Karl studied the camp for several minutes, then met Gabriel’s gaze. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s far too quiet.” The only lights were a couple on the building at the far edge of the camp. There was no movement, no guards that he could see. Everything suggested it was a trap, with a capital T.

“If they’d found the bugs, surely they would have destroyed them.”

“Maybe.” Maybe not. They were dealing with a warped mind. Kazdan could do anything. “I might take a flight down and see what I—”

The rest of his words were cut off as an explosion ripped across the night. Flames leapt high, burning into the sky as metal and wood flew like sparklers through the camp.

He dropped to the ground, followed almost instantly by Karl. The lights in the far buildings went out, and several shouts could be heard above the noise of the explosion.

“Someone’s hit the generator,” Karl commented.

Gabriel nodded. Maybe someone who wanted the fence taken out. Otherwise, why bother?