BLOOD AND BONE | rewritten

38

The world was silent under the hum of the engine. At the end of the procession, the crew kept their heads down.

Somewhere in the train of vehicles before them, Jaxon, Arlo and Kane were hidden. They watched the three be loaded from the sleek jet ensconced in the same body bags Rainey suffered the bone-chilling Kybeshi cold in as punishment for Jake and Delphinium's escape. Rainey couldn't shake the memory of prematurely waking inside of there as Finn's flames filled the world outside. If he had chosen to ditch her there, she would have burst forth from the bag through sheer force of will to reduce him to a smear on the ground.

They were outside the shine of Jinhua now. Rainey watched it grow further down as they drove up a series of bluffs too rocky to inhabit. The pink light between buildings with sloping roofs pierced up into the sky outside the window in spires. Beside her, Gigi and Finn's faces were bathed in the hue as well.

The road kept curving this way and that, taking them higher than Rainey ever felt comfortable venturing. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if the cliff's edge wasn't centimeters from the side of the road. Watching Jake take the vehicle around each bend made everything in her stand on end. They were a hairbreadth away from toppling over the side and that was who they were trusting their lives with? If she was burning at the stake, she wouldn't trust him with an endless supply of water.

Rainey could no longer stand to watch out the side. Instead, she lamented the chipped polish on her nails.

She only glanced back up when the vehicle began to slow and the rumble of it against her back lessened. It seemed they were at a peak now as the road flattened out. The vehicle before them lumbered on without a clue.

The engine was cut. Even Rainey was antsy with anticipation when they stopped. With the sound gone, the night was left oddly somber. Not the most promising start to their stupid rescue mission. Rainey cursed Jake and the way he foamed at the mouth to embarrass Corinthian.

Their vehicle was partially blocked from view by a small grove of trees, so they could not tell if the buyers already stood in the distance. Doors slammed ahead. Delphinium slipped out of the vehicle's rear, not bothering to shut the doors behind her. Rainey waited for her to do her job.

Peeking out from behind the vehicle, Rainey watched the Needles flood the space before them, still unaware of the crew's presence. Aside from several standing guard, they were mostly headed to the front of the procession where the prisoners must have been.

Noting this, Delphinium unleashed herself upon the first guard, slashing the place between his shoulder and neck on each side. The head rolled. There was no sound as she melted back into the shadows before the body could even slump in the tall grass.

The next guard toted a gun as he kept watch over the middle area. He routinely switched positions to keep an eye on all directions, yet he still didn't see Delphinium's attack coming. She sliced him open from neck to navel. He did not have time to take a final breath.

The next guard was far enough away for Rainey to sneak out from behind their vehicle and start down the path Delphinium was creating. When she was gone, Finn would hoist the bodies under the wheels of the Needles' vehicles to buy the crew more time before the gangsters found something amiss. Meanwhile, Jake and Gigi would be on the opposite side snapping instant photos of the meeting.

Delphinium's pattern of random kills turned to a slaughter as she cut down enemies at an efficiency nearly rapid enough to impress Rainey. Nearly. No one had sounded the alarm yet. Rainey sensed Finn moving behind her, gathering strewn body parts to hide.

They were far enough down the motorcade to note the existence of two vehicles more heavily protected than the others. That had to be where the prisoners were.

Rushing at them from a place behind their flashlight beams, Delphinium sliced them to shreds. From the dropped flashlights, Rainey saw in her hiding place how the dirt became soaked with their blood.

Delphinium made it to the closest vehicle of interest. Carefully hoisting open the rear doors, she made sure no one was watching before leaping in. Rainey was close behind.

The vehicle's inside was devoid of anything but three body bags strapped to the benches. Already feeling as though they were about to be locked inside, Rainey hurried to open the nearest bag. Her fingers were unsteady. Hopefully whoever was inside wouldn't scream if she cut them by mistake.

But it was Rainey who nearly screamed when she laid eyes on the bag's contents. Nothing but a humanoid dummy with no face.

She and Delphinium exchanged a glance before shooting from the vehicle. Whether it was a trap or a ruse to slow them down, the plan's complication increased tenfold.

In the space between the rear of the vehicle they stood in and the bumper of the next, three Needles stood to accost them.

Rainey bit her tongue just barely holding back a stream of colorful words that would have earned her extra chores for a lifetime back at the orphanage. Brandishing her blades, Delphinium was on the gangsters in a flash to right their terrible mistake.

"Wait," hissed one, his hands held high. "We're on your side."

Movement ahead drew all their eyes. The other Needles were dragging three bodies from a vehicle ahead as an offering to the series of new dark figures in the distance. Their leader wore a mask to conceal their identity. It was too late.

"Those aren't real," another Needle said softly. "But they don't know it yet."

They beckoned for the girls to follow. Knowing this could be their worst mistake yet, they obeyed. It was true the three gangsters held no guns. If they were lying, Delphinium could just kill them. Maybe Rainey would even help.

With a finger to his lips, one of them gestured to an abandoned vehicle closer to the grove. Rainey thought she saw Finn in the shadows before he darted away. The Needles entered the back first to show they did not mean to attack from behind. "Look," said the third, unzipping a bag to reveal Jaxon's sleeping form.

Needing no more prompting, Delphinium strode forward to wake him. Shooting the gangsters a warning look, Rainey went to the second bag. Upon unzipping it, she saw Arlo. More particularly, Arlo's open eyes.

"You rat ass bastard," she breathed, wondering if this was what an aneurysm felt like. Arlo grinned. As it turned out, he wasn't going to die at some dark figure's hands. Rainey was going to wring his scrawny neck instead.

She nearly did, but one of the Needles cut the ropes around his ankles, so Rainey moved on to Kane. She bolstered herself for another scare. But Kane was unconscious. When she leaned over to wake him, Rainey noticed how sallow his light brown skin looked, so papery it might break if she slapped him awake.

She slapped him anyway, stage-whispering, "Shires, wake your ass up now."

His eyelids fluttered. In the moment just before he awoke, he was nearly smiling. The sedation had really done a number on him. But when he took Rainey in above him, only aversion remained.

As the now-awake prisoners got to their feet, the Needles urged, "Get out of here. They're going to come back any moment."

"You have our gratitude," Delphinium said. It rang with grim finality.

"Take this as a plea for Evans to end Corinthian. He's the only one who may stand a chance."

The assassin nodded once before the group was escaping together back to the others and whisked safely away into the night.