Balanced Chaos (The Void Series Book 3) Page 15

  Not in the least.

  Sam’s eyes burned as they worked to cry, but she was too dehydrated from the fight and the heat of the fire. She had no tears to shed.

  They remained trapped in their cramped alcove under the steps for another couple hours before she heard the voices.

  “Corporal? Gollet?”

  Sam swallowed, wincing at the pain of her parched throat. “Here.”

  They would never hear her rasping voice. She glanced around, looking for something to help make noise. She found a discarded piece of piping.

  Why’s it have to be metal? She wondered as she picked it up with a hiss.

  Careful not to hit Werner’s unconscious body, she clanked it against the iron supports of the stairs. Her hands shook as her skin sizzled under the iron, but she kept pounding the pipe against the stairs in a steady beat.

  “You hear that?” one of the searchers said.

  The sound of industry shifting, moving toward their hiding place.

  “It’s stopped.”

  Sam forced herself to pick the pipe up again and hit it against the stairs again.

  “There it is.”

  “Keep digging,” said a second voice.

  “Corporal, if that’s you beat it twice.”

  Sam winced as she picked up the pipe and hit it twice.

  “It’s them. Go get the lieutenant colonel. We’re coming, Corporal.”

  Sam waited as they dug deeper. Dust began falling on them. She used her burned and blistered hands to shield Werner’s head from the falling debris as best she could without actually touching his injuries.

  “Corporal, can you hear us?” called the colonel.

  “Werner’s unconscious,” Sam croaked; she could feel Philip’s breath blowing shallowly against her neck.

  “Sam? Sam, you okay?”

  “We’re both hurt. Werner’s been burned pretty badly. His breathing is getting shallow. I think you need to hurry.”

  “We’re getting you out as fast as we can, but we can’t risk the debris collapsing on you.”

  “We’re under the iron supports of the stairs, sir.”

  “Good to know, Gollet. You just sit tight.”

  What else do you think I’m gonna do? Sam thought to herself.

  A few minutes later, they created a small hole. The colonel’s face appeared along with a bright light. Sam blinked.

  “You okay, Gollet?”

  “I’m hurt, too, sir.”

  “Never thought I’d live to see the day you admit to that.”

  “No sense denying it, but I’m worried about Werner.”

  “I’ve got the doc here. He’s gonna see what he can do for you two while the crews keep digging.”

  Sam just nodded, regretting it as another piece of iron shifted down onto her shoulder. She whimpered.

  “What is it?” the doc asked, peering into the hole in time to catch her moment of weakness.

  “Too much iron.”

  “Not a lot I can do about that. Sorry. You said Corporal Werner’s breathing is shallow. I want you to get this oxygen mask on him,” the doctor ordered, reaching in as far as he could with a clear mask attached to a hose.

  Sam stretched as far as she could, hooking one finger onto the mask and dragging it up to Werner’s face. She pressed it to his face but ignored the strapped designed to wrap around his head.

  “Where is the corporal injured?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but I think he’s burned on the back of his skull pretty bad. Maybe on his back, too. I’m not sure how Kevlar reacts to extreme heat.”

  The doc nodded.

  “What about you?”

  “Iron burns. A lot of them. And iron weakness. And dehydration.”

  “That will be true for both of you. I can’t get to your arms to place an I.V. yet. If they can get a little more debris cleared I’ll get in there and do that.”

  “Do you have something I can cover his head with?” Sam asked. “I’m afraid dust is falling into his burns.”

  “Good idea.” The doc disappeared for a second. “Here.”

  He reached in, and Sam stretched, taking a crinkly package, the corner cracked open. She used her mouth to open it the rest of the way. Inside was a large, sterile pad. She strained her neck to see the back of Philip’s head, nearly vomiting as she caught sight of his wound. As gently as she could, she set the pad on the wound, pressing slightly until she was certain it wouldn’t fall off.

  “Good job,” the doc said. “I’ll stay right here. Check Werner’s pulse.”

  Sam found it on his neck. “Slow. It doesn’t feel quite right. Kinda stop and go.”

  “Okay. That’s a good description.” The doctor turned his head and said something to someone else. “Just stay put, Sam. We’ll have you two out in just a few minutes.”

  The doctor wasn’t lying. A moment later the crews shifted one large piece, showering down a volley of small debris. It all happened so fast Sam never had a chance to shield Philip from the debris, even if she could from her position under his weight.

  With the final piece removed, the men jumped in under the direction of the doctor. They pulled Werner off of her, placing his limp body on a stretcher. Sam began to climb to her feet, but two soldiers appeared with a stretcher and bullied her onto it. A medic appeared and inserted an I.V. shortly before the lieutenant colonel appeared at her side.

  “We’ve found two fae tied up by the dock. Was there anyone else in the building?” Gallagher asked.

  “There should be the body of a large, nasty beast on the second floor, along with at least two fae. Maybe more if they didn’t get out.”

  “So there was a battle?”

  “Yeah. Five fae and a mage attacked me when Werner and I got separated. One of the fae controlled some sort of beast. Nothing I’d ever seen before.”

  Gallagher nodded. “’Kay. You go with the doctor.”

  “Sir,” interrupted another soldier as he skidded to a stop, “We have another incident.”

  “Could it possibly be as serious as this?” snapped the lieutenant colonel.

  “Someone was murdered. A,” the soldier glanced at a small pad of paper, “a Joe Matsen.”

  “What?” Sam groaned, sitting up on her stretcher.

  “Get her to the admin building,” the colonel ordered, trying to push her back down.

  Sam fought his touch. “Matsen’s dead? When? How’d he die?”

  “You know him?” asked Gallagher, grabbing her elbow as she swayed.

  “He was our contact. He led us to this drop point. I told him the National Guard could keep him safe. Corporal Werner and I just never had a chance to get any sort of protection detail set up. I need to see him.”

  “You’re in no shape…”

  “Lieutenant Colonel, his death has to do with what Corporal Werner and I have been dealing with. I need to see the scene of the crime.”

  Gallagher nodded. “Major! Major Halstead. There’s been a murder. Take Gollet over to see it. It’s related to what she and Corporal Werner were working on. Let her see it, then get her up to the admin building.”

  The major stared at Sam as though she’d turned into a werewolf.

  “What?” Sam snapped, her pain ruining her filter.

  “Sam. You’re face…”

  Sam reached up, nearly touching the burn running down the side of her face.

  “Iron burns,” was all she said as she turned to head towards Matsen’s apartment, completely forgetting the I.V. in her arm.

  Halstead caught her mistake at the last second and snatched up the I.V. bag, quickly catching up with her dubious steps.

  “Keep it quick,” called Gallagher. “She needs to get to the doctor.”

  “Doctor can’t help iron burns,” she yelled over her shoulder.

  Sam stared up at Joe’s body, unable to take her eyes off the corpse hanging from the ceiling of the small apartment. His hands and arms were tied to ropes, pulled outward until his body made a
sort of star. Even after only a few hours, Joe’s plants had begun to grow up the ropes tied to his hands and feet, drawn toward the remnants of his powers, but that wasn’t what kept her attention. Joe’s eyes had been gouged out and his ears cut off.

  “Is… is there something in his mouth?” Sam asked, glancing first at the major and then to the other soldiers standing around the crowded space.

  One of the men stepped forward and pried Joe’s mouth open. They all jumped back as an eyeball rolled out. Wedged deeper within his mouth waited his other eye, the nerves still attached, along with his two ears.

  Sam turned, Halstead following at the last second as he realized he was attached via the I.V. She barely reached the bathroom before she began to retch. Nothing but stomach bile came up, but she got it in the toilet all the same. Sam wiped her mouth and glanced up at the major, the movement pulling painfully on her burned neck.

  “Sorry ‘bout that, Major.”

  He shook his head. “You get what you needed?”

  “No. One last thing.”

  Halstead held out his hand to help her up. Sam forced a smile to her lips. She would never admit it to the major, but without his help she never would have made it off the floor. Her legs were shaking after the day she’d had. She needed her bed, but there was too much to do to seek the luxuries of life.

  Sam went back to the living room, squaring her shoulders. She stepped up to the body, focusing on its shoulder and willfully not thinking of it as once being Joe. Even if he had been a drug dealer, he had been a person.

  No, that’s exactly what you shouldn’t be thinking, dummy, she told herself.

  She raised her hands and rested them against his cheeks, trying her best not to touch the wounds where his ears had been. Sam closed her eyes and released her gift. It plunged into Joe, not caring whether he was alive or dead. Within seconds, it came up on the same poison she had found in Mrs. Newberry. This time, though, her gift found it in vast quantities.

  She jerked her hands back, hissing in disgust.

  “What?” asked Halstead.

  “They poisoned him. A poison intended to be used slowly, over weeks or months to make the victim suffer. They poured loads of it down his throat and let him writhe in it. Then, I suspect, when he was just on the verge of death they…” She swallowed. “…They did the rest. I have what I need.”

  Sam turned, and the major guided her away from the scene. Outside, Sam took a deep breath of cold, Illinois air. Reaching for the tape, Sam began to remove the I.V. from her arm.

  “What are you doing?” Halstead demanded, grabbing her wrist before she could get the tape off.

  “Getting this thing out of my arm. I need to go see someone, and I’m sure you need to get back to the paper mill.”

  “Who do you need to go see?”

  Sam let out a frustrated sigh. Of course he’s not going to make this easy.

  “I need to go see my brother. He’s a healer,” she explained.

  “To get these burns healed?”

  Sam considered lying to major, but after a long pause she thought better of it. “No. For Werner.”

  “I can get you a new PSD.”

  “It’s not just for my security. He’s too deep into what Gallagher has assigned me to do. I need his help. His and his alone. I need him back on his feet.”

  Sam felt a blush rising to her cheeks and willed herself to think on something other than the corporal’s gentle caresses. Instead, she concentrated on the way his breathing slowed while they were trapped in the burned out building, or the way he had groaned as she struggled to keep the fire from enveloping them. Tears pressed against her eyes but, like her blush, they too would tell too much of their story.

  “I’ll escort you myself,” the major finally said after watching the play of emotions across her face.

  Sam wasn’t sure what he saw on her face, but whatever it was, it had affected him. She no longer saw the belligerent man of late, but rather the old friend who had given her a piggy-back ride to the doctor’s office.

  “Thank you, Major.”

  He gave her a quick nod and motioned for her to lead the way. Sam led him up the street while continuing to hold the I.V. bag above her shoulders. She could only imagine what the pre-morning pedestrians thought of them.

  “Sam, what in tarnation have you gotten yourself into now?” demanded a familiar voice.

  Sam sighed and turned to see Jeffery walking up to them.

  “Sir,” Jeffery said to the major before giving Sam’s burned and battered body a long examination. “Take from me again.”

  “No, Jeffery. I took plenty from you less than twelve hours ago.”

  “And the colonel gave me an extra ration to compensate. I’m good to go. Besides, you doing it without beating the shit out of me will make it a lot less of a thing,” he added, throwing the major a winning smile.

  Sam rolled her eyes but released her gift. It sank its proverbial teeth into the vampire and drank. Sam counted to thirty in her head before she cut herself off. Her gift battled her, as was its habit, before resigning itself to its proper place. When she opened her eyes, Jeffery gave her a weak representation of his habitual grin.

  “Look at that, your burns are already healing,” he said, trying his best to sound like himself.

  Halstead gaped at her. “I’ll never get used to that.”

  “Thank you, Jeffery. I don’t deserve your friendship. Now get home and get some rest.”

  The vampire gave her a slow nod before turning and trudging ahead of them.

  “Can’t he do that for Werner?”

  “’Course not. What just happened is dependent on my fae gift, not anything Jeffery does.”

  “Right, you take his ability to heal fast from him,” stated Halstead as though he was just remembering it.

  “Correct.”

  “Can you steal it and give it to Werner?”

  “Sadly, no. But my brother is a healer. Maybe he can do something for him.”

  “Then let’s get going,” the major said.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sam stared at the closed door to her parent’s apartment, her heart hammering against her chest.

  Why did Roman mark my parent’s door?

  Sam knew her eyes were round with fright and her breathing was coming in ragged gasps. She hoped the major viewed it as the normal panic of someone who hated their step-father. Until that moment, Sam hadn’t found any of Roman’s little markers anywhere but near the Res’ perimeters. What about her family was so special that it warranted one of his magical runes? The only connection she could think of between Roman and her family was… her.

  Sam swallowed, fighting the constriction building in her chest.

  The major waited patiently, his gaze shifting from the door to her face. He thought she wasn’t aware of his scrutiny, but she caught his looks out of the corner of her eye.

  “When’s the last time you’ve been home?”

  “Umm… I don’t exactly remember. Not really been back since I moved out,” she replied, happy to talk about something other than what really scared her.

  He waited another few minutes.

  “No time like the present,” Halstead finally said in a sing-songy voice that pissed Sam off.

  She glared at him and raised her fist to the door, knocking more to shut him up than anything else. Sam turned, her eyes going wide as she realized what she had just done.

  “Thought that might work.”

  “Cheater,” she growled, still staring at the door.

  “Still worked.”

  A second later the door creaked open a crack and one eye peered out. “Sam?”

  “Hey, Mom.”

  The door opened the rest of the way and her mother flew into her arms, unaware of the I.V. still attached to her.

  “Ugh, ow, oh Mom, watch it,” grunted Sam as she tried to pull away.

  “Sam… what? Oh my! Are you hurt?”

  “I was. I’ve been healed. T
hey’re just replacing fluids now.”

  Miranda Gollet slowly followed the clear tubing up to the I.V. bag, and from the bag up the arm to the uniformed National Guard officer standing just behind Sam. Sam watched as her mother worked to moisten her mouth and licked her lips. Finally, she turned to her daughter.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Mother, this is Major Halstead, the executive officer of Lieutenant Colonel Gallagher, the new leader of the reservation who replaced Mr. Tibbs. Major Halstead, this is my mother, Miranda Gollet.”

  “Ma’am,” Halstead said with a little nod.

  “Yes, but what is he doing here,” whispered her mother.

  Sam smiled. “He can hear you mom.”

  Miranda blushed crimson. “I… uh…”

  “It’s okay, ma’am. No harm done. You daughter has been helping the National Guard adjust to working with the mystics. She’s been extremely helpful. Sadly, her work has put her in the line of fire with those who would rather not see us here in the reservation. She was injured during the night. A very helpful vampire named Jeffery Digby gave her some of his powers just now, allowing her to heal herself, but she is still severely dehydrated, hence the I.V. bag. There is no need to worry. Your daughter will be in perfect health by sunrise. I promise.”

  Miranda smiled at the major while Sam glared. He doesn’t need to go into such detail, does he?

  Sam could practically read Halstead’s mind as he gave her a returning smirk: You haven’t seen her for months, she’s your mother, so yes, of course I have to be that detailed. Or maybe it was just Sam’s guilt translating his smirk. Either way, Sam didn’t like the message.

  Sam turned to her mother. “Is Ryan home?”

  “He’s been working the night shift. He’ll be home in a few minutes. Why don’t you come in and wait?”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Especially if Dave’s here.”

  “Dave is it?”