Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Approaching vehicles swung into the parking lot.

Sean nodded toward the front of the building. “We don’t have time for this. They’re here.”

Melanie turned back to the computer. “Don’t kill Dr. Baker. She’s coming with us.”



Nicole backed toward the door. “What do you want us to do with the mercenaries?”

Seth closed his eyes.

A long moment passed.

A muscle jumped in his jaw.

When he opened his eyes, they bore a luminous golden glow. “Their orders are to bring down every hostile they encounter with bullets.” Telepathically, he continued. TJ has been outside, downwind, listening all along. He saw Henderson’s team erect the forward operating base and texted Benford. Benford put the mercenaries he’d hired for protection on high alert and conveyed the location of the FOB to them so they could bypass it without detection.

Nicole smiled darkly. Henderson had detected them anyway.

The moment we infiltrated the building, Seth went on, TJ texted Benford again, and Benford gave the mercenaries the green light to move in. Though most intend to shoot us until we go down, some are armed with tranq guns. Any mortal hit with a dart will die from an overdose.

Sean sent Nicole a look of alarm.

Both Benford and the mercenaries consider humans collateral damage.

“So do we shoot to kill or tranq them?” Nicole asked as adrenaline surged through her veins.

“Whichever will keep them from killing you,” Seth said. “I want you and Sean to protect and retrieve Green Team. I’ll help you when I return.”

“Where are you going?”

He narrowed his eyes and responded in their minds. To deal with TJ. Don’t worry about the guards on the first floor. Their eyes are on the mercenaries in the parking lot, not on the monitors.

He vanished.

Jared took Tessa’s hand. “I’m getting Tessa out of here.”

They vanished.

Nicole left the primary lab and crossed the hallway she and Sean had explored earlier. Planting her back against the wall, she eased the door open.

“It’s empty,” Sean said as he joined her.

“What?”

“The hallway. It’s empty.” Smiling, he tapped his ear. “Super hearing. Remember?”

“Right.” She sent him a rueful smile. “For a minute there, I slipped back into special ops mode. Most of the time, it was just us mortals working together to eliminate human threats while you immortals took care of the vampires.”

Smiling, he tugged the door open and waited for her to exit. “Well, now you have me.”

The wide corridor that divided the fourth floor into two halves was indeed empty. The elevator doors remained closed, the directional triangles above them dark.

She glanced at the other end of the hallway.

The door to the lab that Yellow Team occupied was cracked. Cliff leaned against the jam, a 9mm in one hand while he propped the door open with his foot.

Nicole motioned to the lab they’d just left. “There are more weapons in the cart. Arm up. We’re heading down to protect and retrieve Green Team.”

Sean zipped over to the elevator and pressed the button.

Nicole backed toward him as she addressed Cliff. “We’ll block the elevators, but they’ll still be able to use the stairs, so stay sharp.” Spinning, she jogged down to join Sean in front of the elevator.

Ding.

Feet braced apart, Nicole drew a 9mm and aimed it at the elevator seam.

The doors slid open.

Empty.

Lowering her weapon, she stepped inside and pressed the button for the second floor.

Sean smiled as he joined her.

“What?” How did he lighten her spirits with just a smile?

“You look fierce,” he professed, his expression rife with admiration. “I love that you kick ass.”

Fighting a grin, she narrowed her eyes in warning. “Well, don’t get distracted, or I’ll have to kick yours.”

He laughed.

Ding.

Nicole again raised her 9mm and braced for battle as the elevator doors slid open.

At the far end of the hallway, Rafe stood in an open doorway near the latter and gave Sean and Nicole a brief salute.

Holstering her weapon, Nicole stepped out but extended an arm back through the elevator’s doors. “Find something to keep these open.” She looked around. “There. Use that sofa.”

The layout on this floor wasn’t very different from that on the fourth. A smaller community lounge spread across both sides of a central corridor, providing employees with a couple of sofas to relax on, a few tables, and some chairs. The hallway beyond looked pretty generic. Just white walls and solid doors.

Sean grabbed a sofa and shoved it toward the elevator, moving it with as little effort as someone else might a tricycle.

Nicole kept the elevator doors from closing while he positioned the sofa half in and half out of it. Once he finished, she lowered her arm.

Unlike the top floor, this one boasted two elevators. But Rafe had already blocked the other one with a high-backed chair.

Nicole pointed to a door on the other side of it labeled STAIRS. “Pile some crap against that door to buy us some time.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sean said with a grin.

Shaking her head, she strode toward Rafe. “Everything okay here?”

“Yes.”