The Escape by Teyla Branton Read Free Book Online

street? Was capturing us that important?
    Apparently not today. I breathed a sigh of relief as the ambulance doors closed with all of us inside, except the police officer and Ava, who sat in the front. As Ava drove through the dark streets, Dimitri kept his hand on Keene’s chest. “I wasn’t joking about the surgery,” he said. “We need to get him to the safe house immediately.”
    “Keene’s mortal,” I said. “Wouldn’t the hospital be better?”
    He shook his head. “I don’t have operating privileges at any of the hospitals here, and I can’t leave him alone right now, or he won’t make it. I pulled in a few favors to borrow this ambulance, but that’s pretty much the extent of my influence.”
    Ritter nodded and spoke into his ring. “Cort, are you still there?”
    I couldn’t hear the response, but Ritter looked outside the back windows. “Good, I see you. As soon as we’re sure we’ve shaken our tail, we’re going to pull into a street and make the switch. Ava, try to keep our friend occupied while I get him a sedative.” As he spoke, he peeled off the tight hotel uniform, revealing a blue V-necked T-shirt that hugged his muscles like a second skin.
    Jace shook his head. “I should have been the one to go with you,” he said to me in an undertone. His eyes were troubled, almost resentful, and that worried me. Especially when I still kept secrets from him. Secrets that ate at my conscience.
    “Maybe.” I didn’t know anymore. Jace’s hot head might have gotten us into trouble, but the switch would have prevented Keene’s injury. Seeing Keene lying on the gurney gave me the oddest feeling, a numbness with a sharp edge that felt like a razor blade. He was mortal. I’d come to think of him as permanent, like the other Unbounded Renegades, but no matter how well he fought, he would age and die and leave us all behind. I didn’t know exactly how I felt about that, but it wasn’t good.
    “How’s your arm?” Ritter asked me.
    “Fine.” I lifted my eyes, hoping he couldn’t see the turmoil there. A shock ran through my body as our gazes connected. Emotion threatened to drown me, to overcome who I was and destroy the independence I’d worked for. It was as scary as hell. And more enticing than a needle full of curequick. My emotions and his swirled together. I wanted him and he wanted me and eventually we’d have to do something about it.
    After a few sharp turns, Ava pulled into an alley and came to a stop. Ritter stepped out the back, meeting Cort who’d jumped from a brown van, followed by Marco Collins, one of our mortal security men. Cort handed off something to Ritter before hurrying toward us. Dimitri was already jumping down and pulling the gurney after him.
    “Erin,” he said to me, “grab my bag and as many of those supplies as you can carry.”
    “How is he?” Cort’s voice was tense, and I could feel the sorrow emanating from him as he stared down into his brother’s face. Keene had taken years to follow Cort’s defection from the Emporium, and the brothers often didn’t agree on issues, but their loyalty to each other ran deep. Cort had lived five hundred years, and he’d seen numerous mortal half-siblings die, but Keene was different. Everyone who knew Keene understood that. He lived by his own rules, regardless of the consequences, even while working for others. He saw things no one else saw, and he wasn’t afraid of making tough choices.
    Filling my arms with medical supplies, I glanced through the window to the front of the ambulance and saw Ava talking to the police officer. His words cut off as Ritter opened the door and fired a tranquilizer into his neck. The man struggled for a few seconds, his hand going to his gun before slumping over.
    Ava and Ritter came to help us move Keene over to the van. “I’ll take the ambulance back,” she said, her gray eyes like steel. “I’ll have to remove the officer’s memory of the tranquilizer and tell someone in