Caleb didn’t pause to think. He simply holstered his .45 automatic, let himself shift as far as he could, and then slammed his body into the ghouls, driving them away from the exit and the way out. He punched, clawed, and snapped his jaws, picking up one of the ghouls by the leg and using it like a club to bludgeon the other two, then turning his attention on the pair of supernaturals. He must have moved them back twenty or thirty feet when he heard Brielle yelling at him to follow. Normally he would have ignored anyone trying to call him away from a fight like this, but the sound of her voice broke through the fog of rage around him, and within seconds, he turned and headed after his team.
He raced up the stairs, hearing the sounds of claws and boots behind him. A few gunshots smashed into bricks around him, but none found their targets. Seconds later, he was through the front door of the apartment building. Sliding to a stop on the curb outside, he drew his weapon and turned to point it back at the door he’d just come out of. All around him, his teammates had their guns out as well, ready to shoot whoever and whatever came out of the building as early-morning sunlight flooded the street.
But no one and nothing came after them.
Holstering his weapon, Caleb finally turned and glanced at Brielle, needing to make sure she was okay. She was standing beside Julian, unharmed. His gaze shifted to her brother and the woman passed out cold in his arms.
“I’m worried about that head wound,” Caleb said. “She’s going to need medical attention.”
Julian frowned down at Kiara, his face filled with concern. “I know, but I doubt there’s any emergency room Harrington can’t get into. Is there somewhere safer to take her?”
Caleb threw a look at Misty, who was already on the radio with the support people.
“They have a complete med team ready and waiting at the safe house for us,” she said. “They can take care of her there.”
“All right. That’s the plan, then,” Caleb said. “Let’s get off the street.”
He looked at Brielle’s brother again, thinking once more about how the guy wasn’t anything like Caleb thought he’d be. And if the expression on her face was any indication, it seemed that Brielle had been caught a little off guard as well.
Chapter 17
“I know this probably isn’t the best time, but maybe you could explain how you ended up in an abandoned New York City subway tunnel with Kiara Harrington?”
Brielle folded her arms and leaned her shoulder against the wall of the second-floor hallway, half her attention focused on her brother, who was sitting on the carpeted floor near her, and the other half on the pretty blond woman in the bedroom directly across from them. Nathan McKay had arrived at the safe house a few minutes ago, and through the open door, Brielle could see him and Jake trying to interrogate Kiara at the same time that the STAT medical team was checking her out. Kiara seemed to be doing her best to answer their questions.
Brielle turned her gaze on Julian again. “Considering you were the one who helped her father steal twenty nuclear weapons from the United States military, I mean,” she added in case her idiot brother had forgotten what put them all in this situation.
At first, Brielle wasn’t sure Julian had even heard her. His dark eyes were locked on Kiara, a half-eaten ham and cheese sandwich held forgotten in his hand. Brielle had made him a whole stack of them, sure he must be starving after spending hours running through the New York City subway system. She’d made her brother a lot of sandwiches over the years, and putting these together a little while ago in the kitchen downstairs brought back a lot of memories. It felt like only yesterday when she was cutting the crusts off for him. He was high-maintenance, even when he was a little kid.
But since getting to the safe house, he’d barely eaten more than a few bites of the first sandwich. That wasn’t surprising. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was worried about Kiara. When he finally glanced Brielle’s way, she noticed for the first time how exhausted he looked. She was pretty sure he’d lost weight since she’d last seen him, and there were lines on his forehead and around his mouth that hadn’t been there a month ago. But the most noticeable difference was in his eyes—always twinkling like he was up to something, they seemed flatter than she’d ever seen them. Like he’d been through hell. Or seen it at least.
“I ran into her a few days after I arrived in New York,” he said slowly. “I was trying to get away. She was snooping around Xavier Harrington’s place. I had no idea she was his daughter when we first met. I just knew she sucked at the whole sneaking around thing, so I decided to stay and help her look for whatever she was searching for. After she found it, I finally got her out of there, but Harrington’s people chased us into the tunnels. She tried to get me to run, saying her father only wanted her, but I couldn’t leave her. That’s when I called you.”
Jaw dropping, Brielle stared, trying to comprehend what she was seeing. Julian had always been selfish. It was the defining characteristic of his whole life. Her brother had never done anything for anyone but himself. Not even for his own sister. Now, Brielle was faced with the reality that he’d given up a chance to escape from people who would kill him without a second thought over a woman he’d only just met.
She turned her head and studied the woman in the bedroom again. There must be something extremely special about Kiara Harrington. Because, truthfully, Brielle barely recognized this version of her brother. That said, she had to admit she liked what she was seeing from him right now.
“When I got that call from one of my friends saying someone with a lot of money was putting together a crew in Turkey for a big job, I knew I should just hang up,” Julian said, looking down at the floor as he took another bite of the sandwich in his hand.
Brielle frowned. “If you knew you should hang up, why didn’t you? I mean, crap, Julian…nukes? Seriously?”
Julian winced. “In my defense, I didn’t know about the nukes at first.” Finishing the sandwich he’d been playing with, he drew up both legs and rested his arms on his knees, his gaze going to Kiara again. “But even if I had, I doubt it would have changed anything. We both know I have a long history of making stupid decisions when it comes to stuff like this. But this time, I’d like to think I redeemed myself. At least I got Kiara out.”
There was a time when Brielle would have been tempted to point out that getting one thing right by accident didn’t make up for the things he’d done wrong on purpose. But then she saw the unmistakable expression on her brother’s face—one she’d never expected to see there—and it was difficult to stay mad at him.
Julian was in love.
“Were those people after you tonight genuinely trying to kill Kiara?” she asked quietly.
He nodded, not taking his eyes off Kiara as she talked to Jake and McKay. “Yeah. At first it seemed like they were only trying to capture her—even the ghouls—which makes sense, considering Harrington is her father. But after I was able to get cell reception and got through to you, things changed. Harrington’s men became much more aggressive, like he’d told them that Kiara was expendable or something. Right after that, one of those jackasses hit Kiara in the head.” He swallowed hard. “I thought they were going to kill her.”