Atoning (Darkness Rising 3.1)

"Murray's right," a voice said. "The kids are gone. Whatever he heard over in the west quadrant? It wasn't rats."

A reply came across a radio. The footfalls stopped with a squeak.

"Hold on," he said. "I think I've got something. I'll call you back."

The radio clicked off. The footsteps continued. Then, a hand reached down and grabbed Jacinda's ankle, and the man yanked her from her hiding place as she squeaked in protest.

"Are you girls under there, too?" He bent and peered beneath the saw. "Why, hello, Rachelle."

"Hello, asshole," she said and held up her glowing fingers. "Want to try pulling me out? Don't worry--I only give second-degree burns."

He snatched for her outstretched leg--and I slammed a sedative dart into his shoulder as Jacinda slapped her hand over his mouth. I'd crawled out the other way while he'd been focused on Jacinda and Rae. The darts came courtesy of Derek. He'd brought them in, hoping--correctly it seemed--that they wouldn't be so thorough checking for weapons on a werewolf, presuming he came with his own built-in. When I'd realized it was only one guy, I'd had Jacinda stick her leg out. Better to take this guy down while we could.

We bound and gagged him. Then, we took his gun and radio. Rae wanted to stuff him back under the saw, but if we did that, a few kicks against the metal would bring everyone running. I didn't say that to Rae, or she'd feel like she'd overlooked the obvious. Eighteen months ago, I'd have suggested the same thing. Jacinda understood the issue, though, and suggested we haul him deeper onto the shop floor, hidden between pieces of machinery. We did, and Liz found an old oil-soaked tarp that we draped over him.

We had to find a new hiding spot, in case he still managed to make enough noise to alert the others. After a whispered conference, I gave Jacinda the gun. I could handle it, but I had two more tranq darts and needed to keep my attention on Liz as she zipped back and forth. Jacinda also knew how to use a gun and didn't have any supernatural powers.

Rae took the radio. We kept it on low, and she heard someone looking for the guy we'd disabled, but they didn't seem to know exactly where he'd been when he went offline, and they were too busy hunting for us. Liz was hunting too--for a good hiding place--when she raced back, calling, "They're coming! Two of them! Right around the--"

Right around the corner is what I'm sure she'd been about to say, but by that time they were turning the corner. A man and a woman, both carrying guns. We scooted, doubled over, thro

ugh the machinery, but they'd spotted us, and footfalls pounded as they gave chase and radioed the others. That's when it finally came: Maya's catamount scream.

"About time," Rae muttered.

"That's certainly an attention-getter," Jacinda whispered. And it did grab our pursuers' attention as they skidded to a stop with exclamations of "What--?" and "Jesus!"

We tore off as fast as we could in the direction of the scream. Not exactly the plan, but the others would accommodate when they heard us coming. Except we didn't get far before our pursuers resumed chase. One of them fired at Jacinda, and I don't know if they were shooting to kill or just to spook us, but the fact they aimed for her told me they'd decided she was the most expendable, so I wasn't taking a chance.

"Left!" Liz shouted. "Into the offices! I'll back them off."

Something crashed behind us. I don't know what exactly it was, but it hit one of our pursuers. That's the advantage of having a Volo half-demon ghost. In life, Liz had the power of telekinesis; in death, she's a poltergeist.

We raced into the back hall. My necklace got warm again, like it had in the tent when I'd blamed my sweaty hands. But I wasn't clutching it now. Why would it...? I thought of what had been in that tent, and I stopped. I opened one door. Closed it. Opened another.

"Chloe?" Rae said.

I threw open the second door and waved them inside. Rae ran through and then stopped.

"There's a--" she began.

"I know."

I pushed her in and closed the door behind us. Rae stared at the old desk in the middle of the room. Stared at what lay on top of it.

"Is that...?" she said.

"Luke," I whispered. "They brought his body back. And I'm going to use it to get us out."

I resurrected Luke to use against our pursuers. I'd done that once before, in our attack on the Edison Group, raising a guard who'd been killed in the fighting. I'd felt horrible about it--dragging his spirit back into his broken body and forcing him to do my bidding. I did not feel horrible now. Like the guard, Luke had chosen to join a group hell-bent on holding us captive and not above hurting us if we didn't care for that captivity. He'd made his choice. He'd paid for it. Now he'd pay again.

Of course Luke didn't want to do what I told him. But the point of being able to raise the dead is that I have the power to command them. I'd been getting training from a Cabal necromancer. I commanded Luke, and I ignored the rage and outrage in his eyes.

Outside, we could hear our pursuers checking doors. From the footfalls, it was still the two of them. When Liz popped back, she confirmed that. She'd been racing between us and the others, checking in on them. They were doing fine. Whatever obstacle had delayed their attack, they'd overcome it. It wasn't an easy fight, though. There were four other members of this group, all having converged on Derek, Maya and Daniel, all presumably armed, though Liz wisely didn't tell me that.

That meant the others were holding their own, but they couldn't come to our rescue anytime soon. Which was fine. For perhaps the first time in my life, I didn't just tell myself I could handle this--I believed it.

Liz stood in the hall and called a play-by-play. Whatever our pursuers' supernatural powers, neither was a necromancer, obviously, and they didn't hear her as she told us exactly where they were and what they were doing.