Chapter 11
I stared at where Angel pointed, my heart beating hard in my chest, thundering against my ribs, She pulled the trigger. I hadn't expected this. I wanted to bide my time, so what do I do when the murderer follows us? Did 'she' – whoever 'she' was – know who gave the order? Should I even want her to pay when she was probably just following orders? I didn't know whether she should be held responsible but she would know something of the people she worked for… hopefully, anyway.
I lunged forward, leaving the ground with a push from my wings and carried the leap into the air towards the glint of light I had seen. I felt Fang beside me and Iggy, Nudge and Angel fan out behind us, Angel spoke softly to the others but I was too far ahead, or maybe too intent on my target, to catch what she said.
I didn't stop when I reached the leaves, shooting through and knocking the girl I'd seen at the new lab back against the trunk. I drew back my fist before she could react and punched her, hard. Her head snapped to one side and jerked back so fast I barely registered the movement, a surge of adrenaline rushing into me as she bared her teeth and snarled, almost a cross between a hiss and a roar. Her eyes flicked to the side as if ashamed of her reaction but she didn't slow in her retaliation, slipping back a little before hurling herself at me.
I tumbled off the branch backwards, my mind working fast to unravel the mystery of the tiny, immensely strong little mutant – also to think through how painful falling so far straight onto my open wings would be. I flapped urgently trying to slow our decent and tried to stretch my wings to their fullest but they wouldn't budge and I realized her gloved hands were against the joint keeping my movements restricted.
"Let go," I screamed, feeling the ground rushing up to meet us, surely she didn't want to hit the ground; even on top of me it would hurt like hell. My eyes met hers and she blinked, staring at me blankly, I went cold at her look knowing that something wasn't registering and it seemed that something was the fact that we were about to go splat.
She moved, like lightning, she pulled her hands from behind me and flipped us in mid-air. I suddenly found myself right way up with my wings free and flapped hard, feeling the air fill my wings and the panic ease back. We were still falling but we'd slowed considerably. That was when she let go.
Cats always land on their feet. I let go of the bird kid and let myself fall, twisting to land neatly in a crouch. I looked up at Max, her face a mask of complete shock, too much happening in too short a time. She landed nearby and her eyes narrowed – I was still the enemy. She took a step towards me and I moved back and to my left.
"Who sent you?" Max asked, not moving forward again.
"What do you mean?" I asked back, looking to either side of her.
"Gazzy," she answered, "You shot him, dead, just like that – no warning shot, no warning at all. I want to know why,"
"I was told to," I answered simply, shaking my head, "You know that, you should also know I don't know who gave the order – the mind reader could tell you that,"
Max glared at me for a moment then took a step forward again. I moved back and to the right, watching her suspiciously.
"You have to know something useful," she accused.
I smiled at her naivety; she didn't understand how little we were told. "The Master sent me. She told me to track you until you left and to kill the little boy and kill more of you if you didn't take the hint,"
"Who was next then?"
"If you don't leave? You want to know who will be killed next if you keep this up? Ask the mind reader,"
Her eyes went past me to where Angel had come back down to listen in and read my mind, "You are, Max," I heard her say in a small voice, "If we stay you're going to die,"
