Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

injured through the door built into the portcullis and out of the fort to the two Jeeps. Alexios brought up the rear, hands on his daggers and eyes constantly scanning the area for further threat.
     
    Once everyone was loaded in the vehicles, Sam pulled her aside. “We‟re going to need to do something about Smith and Reynolds, and I‟m thinking we don‟t want to bring any of this to the attention of the police just yet.”
     
    Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
    Page 168 of 314
    “It would probably horrify you to know this, Sam, but it never even occurred to me to bring the police into this. We need to figure something out, though, because we need to notify their families. We can‟t just cover this up and leave them wondering forever what happened.” Grace felt the weight of command pushing down on her, driving her further and further into a black pit of self-justification and moral ambiguity. Perhaps death was already nudging at her.
     
    Perhaps her soul, too, had flown away, even though her body didn‟t know it yet.
     
    “I‟ll take care of it,” he said. “I know some people who know some people. A man named Tiny will be in charge.”
     
    “What does he look like?”
     
    “Oh, trust me. You‟ll know him.”
     
    He hugged her fiercely and unexpectedly, releasing her with a muttered apology and curse at his own foolishness when she winced from the pressure on her injured side.
    Then he told Blue to jump up into the Jeep, and Sam climbed into the driver‟s seat and turned the key. Behind him, Michelle started the ignition of the second Jeep. Sam nodded at Grace, turned on his headlights, and started out onto the street.
     
    As Michelle slowly pulled forward, Grace slapped her hand on the driver‟s side door.
    Michelle braked and looked a question at her.
     
    “Be careful,” Grace said, trying to force words past the boulder suddenly caught in her throat. “You and Jeeps and trips to doctors—I don‟t know. It‟s a weird déjà vu climbing up my spine, leaving chills clear down to my backside.”
     
    Michelle patted the very deadly-looking Glock on the seat next to her. “We‟ll be fine. I‟ll call you as soon as we have news. You get that scratch looked at, do you hear me?”
    Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
    Page 169 of 314
     
    Grace nodded, glad she hadn‟t let on to Michelle that it was more than a scratch. Her friend never would have left, and Grace needed everyone to be gone.
     
    The second wave of attackers could be on its way.
     
    Every nerve in Alexios‟s body was on fire with his urgency to get Grace back into the fort and out of the open. Not knowing who or what was behind the attack was eating at him, and every attempt he‟d made to reach out to Alaric on the shared Atlantean mental pathway met with a vast emptiness. It was unfortunate that human technology like cell phones wouldn‟t travel through the portal or succumb to the magic that allowed them to transform themselves and any weapons made of Atlantean metal to mist. He rather liked the idea of dialing 911. At least someone was always available to answer that call.
     
    Grace waved Michelle off, and he gave her almost two entire seconds to watch them drive away before he was across the parking lot, gently grasping her arm on her uninjured side, and herding her back into the fort.
     
    “They must have known,” she said. “They must have known that we were training here.
    But there are two distinct patterns of attacks, and this one doesn‟t fit either.”
     
    “I agree,” he said grimly, pulling the heavy wooden door shut and barring it. “We‟re clearly not drug lords or a criminal gang, that they would be so open.”
     
    “And they made no attempt to stage this attack as a gas leak or other so-called „accidental‟ disaster,” she said, bending forward a little and clutching her side more tightly.
     
    “That‟s it.” He lifted her into his arms, ignoring her protests. “You need to be cleaned up and bandaged now, and since I‟m the only one here to do it, you‟re going to have to bear with my limited first-aid skills.”
    Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
    Page 170 of 314
     
    “I can manage.” But her sharply indrawn breath gave the lie to her words. “Well, maybe you could help me a little,” she admitted, leaning her against his chest. “But we should wait until Sam‟s friends get here.”
     
    He strode down the corridor with her in his arms,