Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) Read online

  ‘Anna’s right,’ I said, trying to sound reasonable, but Chris threw his hands in the air, and with a roar, knocked a lamp and lion ornament from a table. ‘Chris! We don’t live in a world where time is a luxury anymore.’

  ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ he replied. ‘You want to rush into yet another trap? Are you stupid? With a pregnant woman?’

  Anna bristled, but Jessica cut in.

  ‘Chris is right on this,’ she said, ‘Anna, you’re not seriously considering this are you?’

  ‘Of course she is!’ Paul shouted. ‘This is her brother we’re talking about. It’s our lives. We could end this, get our lives back.’

  ‘You’re naïve if you think it’s that simple, idiot,’ Jessica spat.

  Paul’s face burst with colour. The red turned purple and he stepped forward, but Jessica didn’t flinch, she held her ground and bore down on him.

  ‘What the fuck do you know huh?’ Paul whispered. ‘You tried to kill us!’

  ‘If you don’t back off then I might just finish what I started,’ Jessica replied, her voice deadly.

  ‘Enough,’ I growled, rubbing the molten headache that had appeared between my eyes. ‘They’re right, Anna. I can’t have you in this.’

  Anna recoiled like I’d slapped her. The pain on her face ripped at my insides, and our previous conversation passed through my mind.

  I’m failing him, Lucas. I’m failing him.

  We slipped into a tension-filled silence. We barely took a breath, Anna’s eyes boring into mine before I had to look away. My mind tangled with itself. I knew Anna going was a terrible idea, but how could I stop her? It wasn’t my right or choice. If it was someone I loved, nothing short of death would stop me. I brought my eyes back to hers.

  ‘You can’t stop me,’ Anna growled. ‘You can’t.’

  I sighed, and Chris sensed my weakening resolve.

  ‘Think about your baby for Christ sake!’ he fumed. ‘You have to care about that don’t you?’

  Anna spun and her palm slapped Chris’s face. The sound bounced off the walls, a horrible and hair raising whack that even made me flinch. It was like thunder.

  ‘Don’t you ever question my love for my baby,’ Anna whispered as Chris cradled his cheek in surprise. ‘And don’t you dare tell me not to go after my brother.’

  Tears welled in her eyes, and she pushed out of the group and walked to our room. Jessica followed her, and I sat down heavily on the couch they’d vacated. My heart beat frantically against my rib cage, hope, fear, desperation and a variety of sickening emotions plagued by mind.

  ‘Lucas…’ Chris said.

  ‘She’s right again,’ I replied, refusing to look up from the floor. ‘All we can do is help her and keep her safe.’

  Chris looked ready to say more, but he flew past where I sat, and without looking, I heard the door to his room slam shut. It wasn’t long until a jittery Paul walked over to Brian, and whispered in his ear. Brian’s face sank more than I thought possible, and he nodded, stood, and both of them left. Did our resident addict need a fix?

  I was alone. The rush of feelings was almost too much, and I could feel the tears threaten to well and fall. How could we be so divided? I could hear the reasonable voice in my head, telling me I was stupid, telling me I was reckless. It was right. I knew it. But for some reason I couldn’t quite pinpoint properly, against all of the logic my brain hit me with, I would still go after Anna’s brother. I would still hunt down my father.

  *

  The sunrise was beautiful, as if fire burned on the horizon. Anna and I sat there, watching the view in silence. Neither of us could sleep, and after a while, I leaned over the gap between our plush chairs and took her hand. She squeezed, and took a deep breath. I looked over at her, gazed into her blue eyes.

  ‘I don’t think I could handle anything happening to you,’ I whispered.

  ‘I know,’ she replied. ‘But I can’t stay out of this. I can’t.’

  I nodded and sighed.

  ‘Look at the pair of us,’ I chuckled, ‘two crazy idiots with a death wish.’

  We stayed there for hours, just watching the sun crawl into the sky. We watched the early risers walk the streets and drive their cars. Eventually rain began to pelt the windows, and the sun sparkled through the hundreds of drops. At around six that morning, Chris slouched into the room, his lips pinched together, and his eyes avoided ours.

  I got up and wandered over.

  ‘I need to speak to you, now,’ Chris said before he turned and left.

  I sighed and followed. We walked through the vacant and dark main room, passed through Chris’s bedroom, and walked into the adjoining gym. I didn’t want to train; I didn’t have the heart for it. Chris stopped in the middle of the room, his back towards me.

  ‘I know you all think I’m trying to bury our heads in the sand,’ he whispered. ‘But you’re all young. You’re all naïve. You need to quit acting like a child and grow up.’

  A burning sensation flared in my stomach. He was insulting me!

  ‘I thought a lot last night,’ Chris continued. ‘I thought a lot about why we, me and you, keep butting heads, and I finally figured it out. We’re both trying to be leaders, both trying to run this group. Only, I’m not sure you’re capable of protecting them. I tried to reason with you, I tried to get you to think about what you’re doing, and you just don’t listen.’

  Chris turned.

  ‘You saw what happened in Greystone when more than one of us wanted to be a leader,’ Chris whispered. ‘It almost destroyed us, and here we are again, on that same ledge, ready to fly off it. I won’t let that happen, not this time. I’m sorry.’

  I wanted to defend myself, to shout and scream and throw myself at him, but I couldn’t think of a reasonable defense. Was he right? Maybe he was, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t stop us. He was right about himself, burying his head in the sand was exactly what he was doing. He no longer had the fire his wife’s death invoked. He wanted to run and hide like the coward he was.

  I was about to say as much when a click behind my head brought me up short. It was the unmistakable sound of a gun. I gasped and narrowed my eyes at Chris. He avoided my gaze, the shame in his eyes hard for him to hide. It pissed me off.

  ‘Sorry tough guy,’ Jessica’s voice came from behind me, ‘but Chris is right. Anna needs to be protected, even against herself. What she wants right now doesn’t matter.’

  I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes tight. Time and time again people underestimated me. My father, Chris, Jessica, Paul, on and on it went. I would show them.

  I spun, using the speed I’d earned from the horror we’d been through. I brought my arm up, pushed the gun from my head, and grabbed Jessica by her collar. I didn’t stop, I heard Chris move into action, and I continued my spin, lifted Jessica from the ground and threw her at Chris. They both smacked together and fell to the floor. Before they could untangle themselves, I snatched the gun from where it had dropped from Jessica’s hand and took aim.

  I fired, and a feathered needle slotted into Chris’s neck. Before I could move my arm, Jessica had rolled, bounced to her feet and kicked the gun from my hand. I didn’t need it anyway, and when she pounced with her fist angled at my chin, I caught her. She dangled there in my grasp, and using my strength, I chucked her the length of the room and she hit the floor.

  ‘Lucas!’ Anna’s voice came from the doorway behind me.

  I didn’t turn around, but advanced on Jessica. She tried to get back to her feet, but I took her legs from beneath her, grabbed the gun, and fired a dart into her neck. She gritted her teeth, and if looks could kill, I’d be dead. Finally, she slumped, and to be safe, I fired again.

  I turned to Anna, horror on her face, and felt the drowning waves of guilt lapping at my mind. I pushed them away. I had to do it, I had to. We couldn’t let anyone stop us, even if that anyone was one of our own. I grabbed both Chris and Jessica, dragged them over to one of the exercise e
quipment, and started to search for restraints. I brushed past Anna and headed into the empty main room, returning with more rope like what we had used before.

  I sat the two unconscious bodies up, back to back, and then tied them together. I hoped that, even with Jessica’s Houdini skills, tying her to Chris would make it more difficult. I then tied them to a treadmill, double checked my knots and tightened them. I sighed once I’d finished, and couldn’t stop my sweat-laden hands from shaking.

  ‘Lucas…’ Anna whispered.

  ‘They were trying to stop us,’ I replied, my voice barely audible. ‘They tried to stop us!’

  I fled from the room, Anna fast on my heels. It had to be done, right?

  ‘Where’s Brian?’ I asked, searching the War Room frantically.

  Anna shrugged, and I moved towards the door to the corridor. I crossed the divide, and barged straight into Brian and Paul’s room. I stopped in my tracks at the scene before me, and Anna gasped; her hand flew to her mouth. Paul was propped up in a chair with spit sliding down the side of his mouth, a needle hanging from his arm.

  Brian was a few feet away, his forehead creased as his hands rubbed away sweat. He looked up surprised, and stood.

  ‘Brian?’ Anna said.

  But Brian couldn’t speak, and we didn’t have time.

  ‘Is he alright?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Brian whispered.

  I walked over and grabbed Brian by the shoulders, maneuvering him from the room, and back into ours. I sat him down at his computers, and booted them up for him. He looked at us without a word, and then searched the room with his eyes.

  ‘Where’s Chris and Jessica?’ he asked.

  ‘Give us the address,’ I replied.

  Brian didn’t budge, but looked at us dubiously, his eyes slightly narrowed. They shot from my face to Anna’s, and eventually he started to fidget.

  ‘I think we should wait for them,’ Brian said.

  I nodded, and then shook my head. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. We had to go, before they woke. I left the room again, walked in on Paul’s slumped and high figure slowly sliding on his chair. I passed him, and found the table of weapons. I sat the tranquilizer down, picked up a heavier black metal, and slid a clip of bronze-coloured bullets into the gun. I hesitated for a second, before making my way back to Brian.

  Both he and Anna looked up once I’d returned, and both dropped their gazes to my new weapon. Brian’s eyes widened, and with a sharp intake of breath, he spun in his chair and started typing. I fidgeted, I itched and paced.

  ‘This isn’t smart,’ Brian whispered.

  ‘Just give me the address, Bri,’ I replied.

  He turned and glared at me, angry at my unspoken threat. I wasn’t really going to use the weapon in my hand, but it was a good bargaining chip. Brian pursed his lips.

  ‘The address is in a warehouse district, a few miles from here, further out from the city,’ Brian said.

  It was good. It sounded right. My Dad hidden away, playing his games, playing with our lives.

  We end it today. We save Anna’s brother, and we finish this once and for all.

  I took a note of the address, and Brian slipped from his chair. I watched him edge toward Chris’s room as Anna and I got ready. I knew what I had to do. I didn’t like it, in fact, my stomach churned painfully, but I turned, faced him, and he stopped. Brian’s hands shook, and he clasped them in front of him as he stared at me. What had happened to bring it all on? We had been a team, and then…

  I dashed across the room, Brian blinked once, and the butt of my gun smacked into his head. I tried to watch the force I put behind it, only using enough to get the desired effect. Anna gasped as Brian crumpled to the floor.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ I whispered down at him.

  I turned and looked at Anna. I had promised to find her brother. I had promised to stop my father and bring our baby into a safe world. I had to keep those promises, no matter what. I had to.

  Anna remained silent, and closed her eyes. When she opened them, I saw the same determination I had. She might be horrified, but there was little in our worlds anymore that wasn’t. She nodded, and we headed for the door, only to be blocked by Paul. He stood there, a gun in his hand, a black bag by his feet, and a long blade glinted in his other palm.

  I stared into his drooped eyes, wondering if we would have to fight him too, but he tossed me the blade. I caught it in the air and held the light but sharp metal in my hand, wary of Paul’s demeanor. He passed the other gun to Anna, picked up the bag and handed it to me.

  ‘Go take this bastard out,’ he whispered, then slouched clumsily over to Brian’s body.

  The Brother

  Anna pulled to a stop on a long length of road. Ahead of us were three large navy-blue buildings, and all of them looked like massive tin boxes. The sun was setting, and the light from the day dimmed. We had taken our time getting to the address we’d taken from Brian. Hours and hours spent crawling to the location, terrified of being caught. Then we’d watched the buildings Anna’s brother was supposed to be held captive in. Buildings we didn’t have a clue of what lay inside.

  Before we had left the hotel, Anna had convinced me to grab something to communicate with. We had grabbed the small oval headsets we’d used before, and easily linked them to the phone still in the car. They transmitted back to the hotel, and we’d contacted Paul for an update. All three of the people we’d left unconscious were still down, but we needed to get moving.

  ‘You ready for this?’ I asked and my head turned to stare through the dusk at Anna.

  She nodded, but her face had paled, and sweat clung to her forehead. She swallowed, and gave herself a shake before nodding more sincerely.

  We exited the car, our guns in our holsters, and my blade in a loop of my trousers. The area around the warehouses was empty, nothing around for miles. The road we began to walk down had been taken over by nature a while ago. Weeds and grass had burst through the cracked concrete, and as we closed the distance to our destination, we saw the rust that climbed over the three massive buildings.

  ‘Which one?’ Anna asked when we were near.

  She didn’t have to though. The warehouse in the middle was our place. I knew it. Not from a guess or a feeling, but from the large black arrow that had been painted above the huge doors, the one that pointed directly inside. The hairs on my arms rose and I had to shake out the fear crawling up my spine.

  We can handle this.

  We headed up to the warehouse’s doors, and I grabbed the chain locking them together and tore it apart. Anna eyed our surroundings, and I pulled on one of the handles. It creaked menacingly open and the loud whine rang in the air. I looked round at Anna, and we headed inside.

  We wandered around a few small, dark rooms. They were empty, and our hearts were almost audible in the silence. Eventually, we came to a door. It was silver, and compared to the surrounding metal, better kept and looked after. It made me wonder whether the disrepair we’d saw outside was to ward off suspicion from anyone who stumbled past. Not that out there it was very likely.

  I gripped the handle in my sweating hand and turned it. Anna was at the side, her gun aimed as I wrenched the door open, and raised my own. The room beyond even brought a gasp from me. For a second we were frozen, completely mesmerised and horrified by the sight before us.

  ‘My God,’ Anna whispered.

  The room sunk into the ground, and was deeper than you could tell from the outside. In front of us was a metal staircase that led down. It travelled so far then stopped. Around the room at our level were balconies, travelling all around the perimeter. They looked down on a maze, a maze of sandy-coloured walls and darkness. Weak yellow light lit the pathways, and pipes hung from the walls.

  Anna was right.

  My God.

  It was a replica of the tunnels under Greystone. An almost carbon copy of the nightmare we’d fought our lives with to escape. Was it a sick joke? What the hell was
my father doing?

  ‘What is this place?’ Anna gasped.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I replied shaking my head. ‘Maybe, maybe my Dad’s trying to recreate what worked before.’

  That didn’t bode well for Anna’s brother.

  I took a deep breath. The only way was down, and we couldn’t back away. I started down the stairs, each step, even with my best efforts to prevent it, sent a clang throughout the air. When I reached the bottom, I stepped back into a hell I thought I’d left forever. If you didn’t look up, and kept your eyes focused solely ahead of you, you’d think we’d never left. I shook the thought from my head.

  We turned corners, both our breaths ragged.

  We shouldn’t have come here. What did I do?

  We travelled deeper and deeper, further into the maze than I would have liked. There were no sounds, no noises. I stopped and listened, tried to use my abilities to pick up on something, anything. It was then a high-pitched alarm reverberated through the room. I screamed and clamped my hands to my ears, toning down the sound. Anna rushed to my side, her face terrified.

  ‘Get ready,’ I gasped.

  Footsteps pounded the ground, snarls and blood curdling screams caught up with us. I pushed the bag Paul had given us up my shoulder, and Anna and I moved, back to back, into a room the spitting image of the one we’d slept in three months before. We knew what that sound was, once people, then monsters. Those who had been injected with the drug my father made.

  A screaming man entered our room and caught sight of us. He looked around my age, but with black hair and brown eyes. He flew at us, barely losing speed as he turned and barrelled towards us. I opened fire, squeezing the trigger twice. One of bullets smacked his neck, and the other embedded in his skull as he dropped to the floor. I heard Anna take down a young woman, but neither of us turned, keeping our backs together.

  We moved slowly, taking down the horrifying creatures, people who’d once had lives. My gun clicked empty as a girl around ten charged my way. I holstered it quickly, drew my blade and spun, and as my heart stung painfully, I sliced through the girl’s neck. I righted myself and reloaded my gun.