It smashed into their back bumper in a sickening crunch of protesting metal and kept going, shoving them forward out of the way as the car catapulted over the edge and plunged down, the hood crashing into the water.
"Holy shit!" Dylan cried. "It worked! Did you see that?" Renata looked far from celebratory. The Range Rover was out of control, coming to an abrupt halt as the front bumper wrapped around the trunk of a small tree. Airbags exploded out of the dashboard with the impact, throwing off an airy whine and a puff of electronic smoke as they deployed. Dazed and shaken, it took a few seconds for Claire to get her bearings as the restraints slowly deflated. Renata, meanwhile, calmly batted the obstacle out of her way and climbed out of the vehicle. She stalked around to the back of the SUV and grabbed the nasty-looking weapon that Nikolai had given her. Then she walked swiftly but steadily over to the edge of the embankment. Claire and Dylan got out of the smashed Rover and followed, jogging to her side just as the Breedmate readied her aim on the Minions, who were scrambling to get out of their car before the river swept them downstream. Renata took just two shots--each hitting its target with unerring accuracy. The Minions, both bleeding from gaping holes in their heads, drifted lifelessly into the swift-moving current. "Everybody okay?" she asked, glancing over with a steady, unnerving calm. "We're fine," Claire answered, still astonished by everything she'd just witnessed--not the least of which being Renata's coolly efficient manner as she'd killed the two deadly assailants. As the women turned away from the ledge, Dylan froze in her tracks.
"Um...you guys? You know how we were hoping that if we found Roth we might also be able to use him to find solid intel on Dragos's location?" She looked at Claire and Renata. "I think we're getting close." "Is that what the dead Breedmate is telling you now?" Claire asked. "Uh-huh." Dylan slowly lifted her hand to indicate the wooded area all around them. "She and about twenty others like her. They're coming out of the trees one after the other and standing right in front of us." Claire swallowed hard as she stared into the empty forest, the last few rays of daylight burnishing everything in a deep russet glow. She couldn't see what Dylan was reporting, but the fine hairs began to rise on the back of her neck. "We'd better call the compound," Renata said. "Uh-huh," Dylan murmured. "Good idea. Because I think we may be standing almost on top of Dragos's lair right now."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Reichen had slept off most of the day, but he'd still awoken twitchy with the need to feed. After his confrontation with Tegan, he'd somehow managed to get himself from the weapons room to his temporary quarters in the compound, where he'd crashed on the bed and swiftly fallen into a state of unconscious oblivion. Now, showered and dressed, finally able to remain upright on his own motor, he was swamped with the urge to hunt. He knew enough about Bloodlust to realize that the hunger would only worsen if he fed it now, but that didn't slow his pace as he made his way along the corridor to the bank of elevators that would carry him up to street level and the city that pulsed with humanity just beyond the gates of the Order's headquarters. His mouth watered at the thought, his gums aching with the swell of his fangs. Aboveground it could only barely be sunset, but Reichen wasn't worried about a few minutes of ultraviolet sizzle. He stalked to the elevators and pushed the button to call the car. As he waited, impatient as a cat, he heard heavy boot-falls coming up from the other direction. Warriors Kade and Brock rounded a curve in the corridor, both of them garbed in full combat gear and hard-core weaponry. They looked as though they were suited up for war.
"Hey," Kade said, his wolfish quicksilver eyes grim and narrowed as he greeted Reichen with a slight lift of his square jaw. His spiky jet hair was covered by a black knit skullcap, the same thing that stretched over Brock's dark-skinned, close-shaved head. The two big males paused when Reichen turned to face them. "What's going on?" he asked the warriors, hoping they weren't about to ask him the same thing. "Heading out in a few minutes for Connecticut, my man," Brock said, his deep voice a thunderous roll of bass and battle readiness. "With any luck, we're gonna be handing Dragos his own ass on a platter before the night is through."
"Dragos," Reichen echoed. "We've got a lead on him?" "Best one so far," Kade put in. "Gideon's getting the coordinates from Renata as we speak." "When did the women return?" Brock gave a slow shake of his head. "They haven't. The Rover is toast, so we'll be picking them up tonight when we get there." Alarms kicked up a sudden racket in Reichen's whole body. "What do you mean--the vehicle broke down on them?" "Crashed into a tree," Kade said. "Could have been a hell of a lot worse, if the Minions trying to run them off the road had actually gotten ahold of them. Everyone's okay, and the mind slaves are dead. Renata gave them both a fatal case of lead poisoning." "Good Christ." Reichen's blood ran ice cold. Minions. A car crash and gunfire. Claire... "Gideon is on the phone with the women now?" he demanded. Kade nodded. "Where?"
"The tech lab." Reichen took off at a dead run, feet and heart pounding with the need to hear Claire's voice, to hear from her own lips that she truly was unharmed. Gideon was inside with most of the Order, everyone gathered and reviewing the map and coordinates that hung on the far wall of the lab. Tegan, Nikolai, Rio, and the former Gen One assassin named Hunter were all dressed like Kade and Brock, all dripping weapons and lethal purpose. Reichen entered the room and walked straight over to Gideon, just in time to hear the warrior end his conversation with Renata and disconnect the call. "I need to talk to Claire." "She's fine," Gideon said. "The situation is totally under control." "Like hell it is," he roared, practically shaking with concern. "They were attacked by Minions and now they're stranded out there? What the f**k happened?" "We knew the mission was not entirely without risk," Lucan said soberly. When Reichen pivoted to face him, the Order's leader went on. "The women knew the risks, too. They accepted it, and they handled it.