The shout from ahead of us makes all of us freeze, but not for long. Flashlights illuminate the security guard, his stun gun raised and pointed at us.
“Mine,” Phantom mutters, breaking off from the group and disappearing into the shadows of the hall.
Bones’s warning growl sends a shiver down my spine, but it sends the guard stumbling back a step, right into Phantom’s chest.
“Boo,” he says, laughing as he knocks out the guard in two simple moves.
I let out a cackle, earning me a hard elbow to the ribs from Cross. I look to find his olive-green eyes, bright from the depths of his eye black, looking around with concern. His gaze occasionally flicks to the doors to the other rooms and their occupants, his expression nearly unreadable. If he’s got thoughts about what’s going on around us, he’s not sharing with the class just yet.
I guide the team to the front common room, and the door I entered through a few days ago, and swipe the door open with Drake’s stolen keycard. But as they move to exit the residential side of the building, I stay back and let them pass me, the door closing between us before they know what’s happened.
Bones whips around and growls, which I can hear both through my comms and through the door, despite the alarms. But I only grin and wiggle my fingers at him.
“Get your ass back here, now,” he snarls, low and dangerous.
“I’ll meet you back at the exit,” I reply simply, already moving off.
“Joker!”
I ignore Bones’s bark with ease, tapping my comms off so I can focus on my real mission. Security is swarming, trying to figure out where the intruders are, but I melt into the shadows, using the moonlight filtering in through the windows to navigate and track the people scrambling to secure the area. `
“Freeze!”
I grin under my mask at the order, turning to face the security guard nearest me, drawing two knives from my vest and spinning them in my palms.
“You don’t want to play this game, mate,” I warn, trying not to let too much laughter fill my voice.
I pounce before the guard can react, closing the distance with ease. Bringing my elbow down on his wrists, I knock the stun gun to the floor before kicking it away. The guard tries to fight back, but he’s slow and unpracticed. Too many days spent watching drugged out omegas and not enough time in the gym. The handle of my knife cracks across his temple, sending him to the floor, out cold.
The door to the minimum security wing isn’t even locked when I approach it, counting the doors in the hallway as I jog down it. The other omegas are trapped behind their locked doors, their screams pulling at my heart. I want to throw open their doors and free them all, but I don’t have time to be a hero.
Well, not their hero, at least.
I skid to a stop outside of Delilah’s door, pressing my ear to it. I don’t hear any movement from inside, but that’s not necessarily a problem. But we don’t have time for me to knock politely.
I crouch at the handle and pick the lock with practiced ease, shouldering through the door and holding it open so it doesn’t close and lock behind me as I scan the space. The rooms in this part of the ward aren’t as sterile as where I was staying, but the layout is similar enough for my eyes to dart to the natural hiding spots.
“Delilah? Where are you?” I ask, loud enough to be heard over the alarms.
A little squeak from under the bed has my head snapping to it, and I sheath one of my knives before wedging the other under the door to hold it open as I move further into the room.
Time to rescue my little wisp.
Chapter fourteen
Ican’tseemuchbetween the darkness and my position under my bed, but there’s enough light for me to see booted feet crossing the room toward me. I cover my mouth to muffle my panting breaths, panic rising in my throat like bile. It can’t be. Not like this. No. No. No. N–
“Little wisp, it’s me. It’s okay.”
I relax at the sound of Joker’s voice, scooting toward the gap as I see the figure kneel down, the facility-issued gray sweats visible on his legs above the boots. But as I slide out from my hiding spot and look up, I freeze, gasping.
Joker’s eyes look back at me from the gap in his mask, a little tuft of ginger hair peeking out against his forehead. But there’s a large, exaggerated smile printed in boldwhite over where his mouth would be. He’s also wearing a tactical vest with half a dozen knives slotted along the front alone.
“What is going on? What’s this?” I ask in a strained hiss, my heart going a hundred miles an hour in my chest.
Joker laughs. “Oh, just out for a midnight stroll. Care to join me?”
I slap his arm, and he pretends like it hurts, which only makes me growl. He giggles, the corners of his eyes crinkling even though I can’t see his smile.