Page 28 of Draco

“Do you have to listen or choose to?” Leif asked me in a hushed voice.

“Choose to.”

“Ah.” He tilted his head back as he answered. “Honor. I respect that.”

“Are we ready to go?” I asked.

Both men nodded.

* * *

We walked right upto the front door as I pushed the very boundaries of my abilities. Leif’s idea had intrigued me. He’d suggested I try to shape their very features into something unrecognizable. And I’d been able to do so, but when he’d snapped a picture, I discovered I didn’t fool the cameras. So we’d put on masks to cover our faces, and I projected what I wanted others to see when we showed up.

Leif and I were both in doctors scrubs, but Stryker was a maintenance lookalike, to his dismay.

“How come you both get to be doctors?” He asked me.

I didn’t have time to answer as we walked right up, and I pushed on the mind of the first set of guards. We were buzzed in almost instantly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The first wave was down.

I touched mind after mind, searching for her. Finally, someone who’d seen her gave me enough to go on.

“Room 221.” I began to move toward the elevator, and both men fell into step beside me. We got on, and the doors began to slide closed when a hand stopped them and pushed the door back open. The doctor stepped in, glanced at us, then hit the button for floor four.

On the second floor, the elevator stopped, and I touched the guy’s mind. He had no clue we were even out of place, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

So far, so good. No one had any idea.

We headed for room 221, and I steeled myself, waiting for someone to notice us, to be immune to my skills, but no one stopped us, no one called out, no alarms began to blare.

We walked right in, freed her arms and legs from the straps that held her immobile. Her face, white as the sheets she was under, bothered me. She looked so ashen and frail. What had they done to her? I tried to wake her, but without luck. So I covered her face and began to wheel the whole bed out.

Leif and Stryker followed suit. Leif taking one side and Stryker the other while I pushed from the back.

“Another loss?” The random white jacket asked me.

I projected on him, sifted through his thoughts for the right answer, and responded quickly. “Yes, the dosing was off. Her heart stopped.”

“Pity. Beautiful, that one.” His thoughts went to an ugly place, and I leaped at him, ready to smash my fist into his face. Leif caught me, and Stryker continued moving Luna out.

“Let it go,” Leif said.

The guy still smiled like a big dumb idiot, fooled by the false faces.

I let Leif drag me away, aware that if I fought now, I’d give us away. I’d lose her and this chance to get her out. And if I failed, there was a chance I’d never find her again. She’d be moved, stuck somewhere never to see the light of day again and I’d spend the rest of my life searching for her.

Because she was too damn important to me for me to lose. I couldn’t let her go. I wouldn’t let her die slowly in a place like this, held captive and losing that fire that raged in her soul.

We chased down Stryker and caught up to them at the elevator.

And I heard it, the sudden blare of an alarm.

Fuck, we were caught.

Leif stiffened, and Stryker’s spine snapped straight.

“They know,” Stryker said, lifting his face and inhaling. “They’re coming for us.”

I nodded, confirming what he’d said, pushing everyone with a misdirection that would send them to the wrong floor. But I heard walkies squawk and knew that the cameras were not fooled, and someone was directing them right to us.

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