Red Night ((Book 1) Timewalker Chronicles) by Michele Callahan Page A

little early. The Colonel was going to be a problem.
    She followed the Colonel and Patrick as quickly as her soft leather slippers allowed. The floor was full of deserted offices. A few scattered lights provided minimal illumination, which suited her just fine. Less light meant she’d need less energy to control it. The shadows were on her side.
    “Who’s he?” Anger laced the Colonel’s words when he saw another man in black standing guard in front of a closed office door. He was smaller than Patrick, dark skin and hair. Thin, wiry frame and face. Utter and absolute blankness stared out from behind his dark eyes. No conscience. No soul. Even more terrifying than Patrick. The devil incarnate handed the Colonel a set of keys, but didn’t deign to answer.
    “He’s with me.” Alexa figured Patrick wasn’t willing to argue about it. The Colonel must have thought the same. Hell. Three of them now. Plus Kline. Luck wasn’t playing fair.
    “Wait by the elevators and make sure none of my boys spot you.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Alexa held her breath as Brute and Brute Jr. passed within two feet of her and kept walking around the corner. The scary men in black were gone. Well, gone enough. She could find the stairs. Luck was playing nice after all.
    The Colonel stood alone in the hallway, his head slumped, his entire focus on the keys jingling in his hand. He looked sad. Tired. Worn to the bone by life.
    If he hadn’t been a schemer and a liar, if he hadn’t been responsible for the annihilation of an entire planet, she might have felt sorry for him. Instead, she reached for her gun with her right hand and one of her knives with her left. She’d try to avoid killing them. The only thing she needed was the little silver case. The Colonel and his personal problems wouldn’t kill the world. But a mere fifty feet stood between her and a life of happily-ever-after with Luke. She’d be damned if she’d get this close and fail.
    The Colonel opened the door and walked into the room, and out of sight. Sprinting for the large door, which was slowly swinging closed, she managed to wedge it open a couple of inches with her foot. She should be able to slide into the room unnoticed. Unless the latch clicked when the door closed. Then she would have a problem.
    Shimmying sideways through as small an opening as possible she let the door slide home behind her.
    Matthew Kline sat, both wrists handcuffed to his sides in a large leather-backed chair. His jeans and T-shirt were wrinkled and stained. Long brown hair hung, greasy and limp, to his shoulders. Hazel eyes spit hatred at the old man slumped in the chair across from him. And there, in the center of an otherwise bare desktop, sat the silver case.
    “What am I going to do with you, boy?”
    Matthew struggled in vain against the handcuffs. “Let me go.”
    “Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused? This isn’t like picking pockets or stealing cars! You’re carrying around deadly pathogens that were stolen from a Four Lab.” The Colonel leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Killing Trent was stupid, son. Taking the virus was worse. Every senator on committee is breathing fire down my neck. Those boys don’t screw around. I don’t think I can protect you this time.”
    “Go to hell. I never asked for your help. Just leave me the fuck alone.”
    “What are you doing here? How the hell did you get near Trent?”
    Insanity blazed like deadly laser beams from Matthew’s eyes. Alexa was glad he couldn’t see her. “Everyone has a price.”
    ‘Damn it, Matt.”
    “You can’t lock people up, play God with their lives. You think you’re so much better than me.” The handcuffs jerked and strained as Matthew renewed his struggle against the arms of the chair. “The whole fucking world wants to lock me away and forget I exist.”
    “How’d you get out? Why wasn’t I notified?” An evil sneer crossed Matthew’s face in response. Alexa inched closer to the