“Thank you,” I say after a long moment of silence has passed.He looks at me in confusion, and I sigh.“For coming tonight and for, I don’t know, making me see what I didn’t want to face?”
“I was lucky that Elsy could do that for me.She’s been my best friend my entire life, so it was easy to believe.I can’t imagine what I would have felt if I was in your shoes.If it was my dad, I think I would’ve done the same.”
The car comes to a stop, and Keaton and I glance outside to see we’re at a warehouse near the loading docks on the river.With one last nod to each other, we climb out of the car and make our way into the warehouse.It’s pitch black outside, and there’s only one small light inside.It doesn’t matter, though, because Keaton and I have enhanced vision so we could see even if the lights were off.
“Right on time.”The voice has a thick Russian accent, and up ahead I see Dolohov step out of the shadows with two men on either side of him.“Although you seem to have brought a friend.”He narrows his eyes on Keaton as he takes a pull off his cigarette.“I was under the impression that you two didn’t do business together.”
“I wanted to come meet the men who blew up my lab.”Keaton tucks his hands in his pants, and although he looks casual, he’s anything but.I can feel the tension coming off of him with my senses being on high alert.
“A misunderstanding.”Dolohov waves his hands dismissively then says something in Russian to the man beside him.The man nods, and then Dolohov turns toward us.“Let’s get to business, shall we?”
I hold up the flash drive with what are supposed to be the diagnostics for the drone technology.There are plans on here that look similar, but I may have included a few key pieces of information that cause the device to explode just in case this fell into the wrong hands.
“Do you have the payment?”
“I’m surprised that a man with so much money would ask for more.Information is the currency I deal in,” Dolohov says as he holds up his own flash drive.“But there’s no accounting for taste.Ten million in crypto as requested.”
The crypto currency was requested so there would be a digital trail of their involvement.It’s just another layer of protection in putting these guys away for good.With the details sorted, I walk over to the small table between us and place the silver stick on top of it.Dolohov doesn’t hesitate as he comes over and does the same.As we reach down in unison, there’s a loud rumble in the distance.When I glance over at Keaton, I see his look of confusion as well.This wasn’t part of the plan.
When I look back at Dolohov, I realize he’s not fazed at all.In fact, he’s smiling.Fuck, this is not good.
“You see what I mean about using information as currency?”In the distance, there’s something that looks like a tank rolling into the warehouse.There’s a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach as the smile on Dolohov’s face grows.“A man as intelligent as you should have known you couldn’t keep her hidden.”
“No!”I shout as the giant truck comes to a stop, and the side of it slides open to reveal Jade and Elsy gagged and tied in the back of it.
“What I want are the true plans for the drone.Not the ones that you pretend to pass off as complete.I’ve got my own spies in the FBI, and I knew what you were planning.Now you hand them over or watch the girls die.”
I have no idea how they got to my Jade, but that doesn’t matter now.What matters is they’ve put their hand on what belongs to me, and I’m no longer in control of the thing that has always simmered below the surface.For the first time in my life, I release the animal that I’ve kept locked away, and I roar as the fabric of my shirt rips away and my muscles swell.
The sound that comes out of me is echoed on my left, and I look over to see Keaton doing the same.We’ve both grown in size and are breathing heavily as our bodies shake with rage.I assume my eyes are as bright as his because in the dark they look like beams of light pointing to the man that is going to die for what he’s done.
“W-wh-what’s happening?”Dolohov stammers as he begins to walk backwards.He’s looking between the two of us with a horrified expression on his face, but we’re too quick for him to react.
In the time it took for him to take a breath, Keaton has leapt from where he was standing and onto the truck.In a second breath, he’s ripped the man driving it out of the cab and thrown him so hard against the wall that he crumples like a tissue.
My hands are on Dolohov, and although I don’t want this to be too quick, I have to make sure that he can never hurt Jade again.He’s so scared he pisses himself as I raise him off the ground with one hand and grab his face with the other.
“The moment you knew her name you were a dead man,” I say through clenched teeth.He tries to plead, but with a flick of my wrist, his neck snaps and his life has ended.
There’s shouting coming from the back of the warehouse, and I assume that the feds have heard all that’s going down and are on their way.
“Gray!”Jade calls my name, and it’s like I can feel it over every inch of my body.
I cross the distance between us in one jump and land so hard on the concrete floor it cracks all around me.My arms are around her in an embrace as I look over her shoulder to see Keaton holding on to Elsy.
“We have to get out of here.They can’t see us like this,” Keaton says, and he’s right.
I don’t know how long it will take for us to look human again, but we can’t have them find us here in this form.The FBI doesn’t know anything about those experiments, and we need to keep that hidden.We’ve done our job with taking out Dolohov, and it sounds like his crew is going down as we speak.Right now, the only concern is getting Jade and Elsy the fuck out of here.
“The shipyard.”Jade points to a door in the corner.“Get us to one of the boats, and we can take it downriver.”
“The roads are covered by the feds,” Keaton agrees.“She’s right; it's the only way.”
“Hold on,” I say as I put Jade on my back and climb down the giant truck.
My legs pound into the concrete as I hurdle over equipment and debris and bound through the shipyard.Keaton is right beside me as we do our best to remain hidden while being as quick as possible.Up ahead, I spot a small boat that’s enclosed and should hold all four of us.I point to it, and Keaton silently nods.We get low and use our heightened senses to check the surrounding area.It’s empty.
With my heart racing, we climb on board and push away from the loading dock as the ship silently turns toward the current.