Page 23 of Fight or Fly

“It’s not that simple,” Alex shot back. “Not now.”

“Because of us,” I hazarded, gesturing between Kam and me. “Don’t let us get in your way. We can fend for ourselves if we have to.”

It wasn’t a lie, although there was no question we’d be a lot more vulnerable without this pack of alphas protecting us. I’d been dragged from my apartment at three a.m. with nothing but the flimsy nightgown I’d been wearing, but Kam had ten thousand dollars in cash, along with a few personal belongings. That money would help pay for my escape as well as his—even if the idea of fleeing the country and leaving the others behind made me queasy.

But Alex shook her head. “It’s partly that, yes; but there’s also another consideration.”

The muscles in Jax’s square jaw twitched. “You need to leave me behind, too. I’m still not in fighting shape. I’d only slow you down.”

I covered a wince. Though he was much better now, Jax was still recovering from muscle weakness and nerve damage on his left side. I still seethed thinking of those bastards in Romania who’d held us prisoner, injecting Jax with their poisonous experimental weapon designed to kill alphas and omegas while leaving betas unharmed.

Kam cleared his throat. My packmate had been uncharacteristically subdued since my heat ended—still processing things, I suspected. Now, though, he spoke up.

“Then Jax should stay here and guard us while Flynn goes with you, Alex,” he said. “It’s the most logical use of resources. From what I gather, it would be dangerous for Beckett to end up in the Committee’s hands. He knows too much.”

Flynn tapped his fingers against the wall. “He’s right. There’s the identity of Beckett’s mate to worry about, for one thing.”

Beckett was the only mated omega I’d ever met. The secrecy surrounding the identity of his partner was absolute, and the others had speculated that he or she must be someone high up in the organizational structure of the underground. If whoever had captured Beckett managed to pry that information out of him, it could potentially cause untold damage to the alphomic resistance.

“Is there any reason to think the location of this place has been compromised?” I asked.

“That depends entirely on who has Beckett right now, and how good they are at torturing people for information,” Alex said tightly.

A chill skittered down my spine, but I squared my shoulders. “Anyconcretereason?” I pressed.

“No,” she admitted, before adding, “There’s also no concrete reason to think it hasn’t been compromised.”

“I’m willing to take the risk,” Kam said quietly. “Jax?”

Jax’s tense posture said he wasn’t happy at being left behind while his pack went into danger. Nevertheless, he gave a single, terse nod. “It makes sense. We’ll need a second vehicle, though, in case we need to make a run for it. This place is in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

“I think that’s kind of the point,” Flynn said. “Still, he’s right.”

Kam exchanged a glance with me. “We have ten thousand in cash. You should be able to pick up something cheap with a salvage title, and not have to dig too far into that amount.”

“That’ll work,” Flynn said. “There ought to be some counterfeit or expired license plates hidden somewhere in this place. That’s pretty standard for this kind of safehouse.”

“What about you two?” I asked. “Do you have access to enough money for what you need to do? Gasoline, food, that kind of stuff?”

If they didn’t, Kam and I would have to decide how much of our limited funds we were willing to throw at this mission. Ten thousand dollars was enough to smuggle two people out of the country, but it wasn’t an extravagant amount. We could only afford to lose so much of it before one or both of us would be stuck here. And as omega fugitives, it wasn’t as though we could easily get more money. We owed Beckett, though—we’d probably both be in the Committee’s hands right now if not for his intervention.

“Let us worry about that,” Alex said.

I had no idea if she meant they already had access to money, or if she planned to rob a bank, or what. But I was in no position to question the alphas—not when they had their shit together, and I totally didn’t. I was still trapped in a strange limbo. My past life had been ripped away irretrievably, and I didn’t know yet what the future would look like.

For a while, it had seemed like our future would be in the underground. With Beckett gone, that option might be lost to us. The uncertainty ate at me, now that the mindlessness of my heat had loosened its grip.

“Is this the plan we’re going with?” Jax asked.

Alex hesitated before offering a sharp, affirmative nod. “It is. We’ll acquire a second car before we leave. Flynn and I will track down the people Beckett went to meet with. We can at least find out if he made it to those meetings or not. We’ll be back in four days. If we’re delayed, or if we find a lead worth following, we’ll leave a message with Beckett’s contact—the one I spoke to today. If you have to leave this place before we get back, you do the same.”

It concerned me that this was essentially an identical plan to the one Beckett had used, and that hadn’t worked out very well for him. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything better to offer as an alternative.

“Right,” Flynn said. “It’s no good standing around here with our thumbs up our asses, in that case. Let’s get moving.”

* * *

It took the rest ofthe day and half of the following one to get everything set up. Kam and I mostly stayed out of the way. With my photograph plastered all over the newspapers, it wasn’t as though I could run to the nearest grocery store to pick up supplies.

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