Divide and Conquer by Carmen Fox

Author:Carmen Fox [Fox, Carmen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Smart Heart Publishing

Chapter Twenty

LEA

* * *

“I understand the concept of maturity. Just not as it applies to me.”

* * *

I followed Nieve’s gaze down the sloped street, and everything around us fell quiet. We’d stopped by a small alley between a dark-bricked building and a tall wooden fence. Cars that were parked at an angle lined the two-lane road on both sides. Behind a tree, the emergency lighting of a small boutique cast green light on the ground. All of this I noticed, even though my sight fixed on the spot about thirty yards downhill, where six helmeted men in brown leather uniforms converged.

They, too, halted their conversation.

The pulse in my neck thumped wildly. My hand hovered over my dagger. The last time I’d encountered Shades I’d witnessed what they could do. I had no appetite for an encore.

One of them lifted his arms. Dark fog rose up past my knees and closed around my head.

“Come on. Let’s go.” I nudged Nieve’s side.

My nose and throat clogged with the taste of something acidic. The same phenomenon had surrounded Kieran and me outside the Orchard Lounge. Hard to forget this scent, like the whiff of old parking garage and burnt tires.

“No, let’s not.” The firmness of Nieve’s voice had a comforting effect. “Let’s capture one of them instead.”

“There’s six of them and only two of us.”

“Maybe, but they weren’t expecting us, so they won’t be elite warriors. Simple scouts, I’m guessing. Besides, escape isn’t always an option. You can fly, but have you ever tried to stay in the air while Shades fling bricks and stones at you?”

“No.” I kept my rattling heart in check, forced my breaths not to run away from me.

She was the one with experience. If she said running wasn’t an option, I wasn’t going to question her judgement. But even though I couln’t leave, Kieran should.

With projected calm, I pushed him out of the way. “You should leave, or at least stay out of sight,” I whispered. “This is no office party gone wrong.”

Not that we couldn’t do with his fighting skills, but he was unarmed, and the Shades looked ready to eat us for dinner.

He retreated to inside the alley. “Okay.”

“Come on, Lea.” Nieve drew her hanbo and walked toward the center of the fog.

The Shades communicated without words, using military hand signals like the members of Stargate One. They, too, knew the gameplay, carried years of experience on their shoulders.

The only one who didn’t belong was I.

The phone in my pocket vibrated, but a tuneless song from further uphill snatched my attention first. Three men in suits had their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders as they marched toward us in step. A drop of hope halted the sick rumble in my gut. Two of the guys appeared burly enough to do serious damage if they decided to come to our aid.

The fog had caught up to us now, and they headed into The Fly without sparing us a glance. For a brief moment, a thumping bass spilled into the street.

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