Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(71)
Author: Gena Showalter

I tugged on my shoes, hopping on one foot as I entered the bathroom and scooped up all my knives. My Taser already rested in my back pocket. "We staying here to fight or running?"

"Normally I’d want to stay and fight, but they always seem to be one step ahead of us and we’re both at the end of our strength. I don’t want to leave, though." His eyes moved to the ceiling as he quickly weighed the pros and cons. "We’re leaving. Safest thing for us. If Cody wanted to bring us in, he should have contacted me to ensure I played along."

"Truth." As Tanner would say.

"We’ve got a few minutes before they reach us, so go into the hall and start knocking on doors until someone answers. First person who does, get inside their room." Somehow I’d known he would say that. Though unsure about what he was doing, remaining here, I left our haven and did as he’d commanded without argument. Took me four tries, but someone finally opened their door. A middle-aged woman in sweats and a T-shirt, sleep clinging to her eyes.

I must have woken her up.

I opened my mouth to say…what? I didn’t know, and it didn’t matter. Rome jogged out of our room, spotted me and closed the distance.

"Sorry, ma’am," he said, moving past her and into her room without permission.

"I’m so sorry," I echoed. I pushed her back inside, shut and locked the door.

She gasped, shock covering her plain features. Poor woman. I’d been there. This would forever change her, ruin the safe world she’d thought she lived in.

"We’re not going to hurt you," I vowed, holding a hand up as though I were swearing on a Bible.

"We’re in trouble, being chased by dangerous people. We’re just going to…what?" I asked, looking to Rome.

He was at the window, prying it open. I rushed to his side, ready to jump through at a moment’s notice – even though I could see only a thin ledge, a fifty-foot drop and cars in the parking lot. "We’re leaving," I said over my shoulder. The woman hadn’t run out, was still standing there, frozen by her fear.

Oops. A good agent wouldn’t have turned her back. A mistake I wouldn’t make again. "Please don’t tell anyone you saw us. Please. They’ll take you in, question you, maybe hurt you."

"Not maybe." Rome’s voice was cold, hard. "They will."

She swallowed audibly. Found her feet and backed herself into the wall, edging closer and closer to the door. But she stopped, hand fluttering to her throat. Her skin was so pale I feared she would faint. I didn’t think I could handle another unconscious person today.

Rome finally got the glued seal unstuck and pushed the window open. Cool air wafted inside, followed by the sound of night birds and crickets. He looked back at the woman, who now had tears streaming down her cheeks. I’d never scared an innocent so badly, and I hated myself for it. She didn’t know whether to trust us or not, didn’t know whether a painful death waited in here or out there.

"You’re going to be okay," I told her. "I’ll – "

Rome stealthily placed something cold and thin in my hand. I didn’t have to look to know it was a syringe filled with that night-night cocktail of his. He carried it everywhere. Though after what The Multiplier had done to him, I would have expected him to rethink that strategy.

I moistened my suddenly dry lips. I’d never done something like this to an innocent, and hadn’t ever wanted to. But she would have freaked if Rome approached her.

You’re an agent. Act like one for once.I needed to tattoo those words on my wrist or something. You can do this.

Pasting what I hoped was a sincere smile on my face, I slowly moved toward her, careful to keep the syringe behind me. "You’re going to be okay," I repeated. "I promise." She blanched, turned and finally ran to the door, hand reaching for the knob. A cry curled from her lips the moment I grabbed her. She swung back, trying to bat me away. I ducked and jabbed the needle up and into her arm. Her cry instantly ceased, her muscles jerking in reaction. As the drug instantaneously broke the blood/brain barrier, she slid to the floor, immobilized at my feet.

I stayed there, staring down at her. I had done that to her. Me.

"Belle, come on!" Rome said in a fierce whisper. He even waved me over.

I jolted into motion, whipping around and running to him. He wrapped an arm around my waist and ushered me onto the ledge.

"She gonna be okay?" I knew she would be, had promised her she would, but I needed to hear it confirmed.

"Look at it this way, baby. You woke her up by banging on her door. The least you could do was help her fall back asleep. She’ll be up and at ’em in a few hours. I’m proof of that," he added with clear self-deprecation. "She might not even remember what happened." Hopefully she wouldn’t. I didn’t want to be forever branded a villain in her mind.

Who knew I’d ever be pro-memory loss?

"What if someone’s waiting for us on the ground?" I asked.

"They probably are. That’s why we’re going up."

Up? Dear God. Though I was trying valiantly to numb my emotions, I couldn’t stop a wave of fear from crashing through me, chilling me inside and out. Ice branched from my fingers, making the ledge I was holding, as well as the one my feet were braced upon, slick.

"Calm down, Belle," Rome commanded.

"So easy to say, so hard to do." I could fall. He could fall. We could die. Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.

Faster and faster the frost spread from me.

"You’re going to get us both killed."

"Not helping!"

Even as I spoke, I felt his mind probing mine, snatching up my emotions, dulling them slightly. Without Tanner, he didn’t know how much to filter. The fact that he was filtering anything at all, though, thrilled me despite the circumstances.

He moved behind me, his body heat enveloping me. Warm breath trekked over my neck, caressing, lifting my hair and dancing it over my skin. "Move with me." He crept to the right, and I followed. He reached up and hefted himself a few inches higher, and I followed. "I’ve got you. That’s my girl." That’s right. I was. Up, up we continued to move, but soon my arms and legs were burning from the strain. I held on tight, though, Rome’s big, hard body anchoring me despite the small patches of ice I’d created.

"I want to get us into a shadowed corner on the roof, all right? Then I’ll take care of the rest. You won’t have to do anything but hang on. And just so you know, no one’s on the ground watching us. I checked.

We’re fine. We’re safe." He kept up the steady chatter in hopes of distracting me, I knew. "You’re breathing too hard. Tell me about the wedding you’ve been planning."