Before the Fall Read Online Free PDF Page A

believe in going to save all them ?”
    Zach held her gaze but didn’t answer.
    â€œMy God.” Shanna closed her eyes, sickened by the images of all the wounded and dead she was conjuring. “How many people are going to die?”
    â€œNo idea,” Zach said matter-of-factly.
    She couldn’t think about that right now. She needed to clear her head, to think about something other than the images of nasty creatures clawing their way out of the earth to kill innocent people . . .
    â€œWas he really Lancelot?” she whispered, feeling foolish for asking something so silly at that particular moment.
    â€œYep.”
    Shanna remembered enough from English class to know the name Lancelot du Lac, and he fit the description of the seven-foot-tall blonde she’d just met at the airfield. Maybe Zach wasn’t joking.
    â€œ The Lancelot ? ”
    â€œHe was a knight once, yes. But the Lancelot you’re referring to is a storybook character. Just happens to be based on Lance DuLaque. If it weren’t for his weakness for women, you’d have never heard of him.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Okay. That’s it. She would accept it because right now, it made about as much sense as anything else.
    Zach reached across the small space separating their seats and squeezed her knee. “It’s all right, Shanna. The Order is setting up a couple of headquarters on each of the continents. The closest to here is being constructed in St. Augustine. An old fort there that they think will hold up well against attack. I’m getting you there and you’ll be safe. All right?”
    â€œWhat about you?” she asked.
    â€œWhat about me?”
    â€œYou said you’re getting me there. You meant us, right?”
    â€œI’ll be reporting for duty when you’re settled.”
    Her palms were suddenly clammy. And her chest hurt. Why did her chest hurt? “You’re going to fight them?”
    He gave her a half-smile. “If I’m not too rusty.”
    â€œThis is all real, isn’t it?”
    â€œYeah. It is.”
    â€œOkay.”
    There it was again. That word of acceptance that she didn’t truly feel. “Can I . . . do anything?”
    She was coming out of her skin, needing to do something, anything to occupy her mind. And Zach was still so familiar to her, still so strong and beautiful and hers, though she held no real claim on him anymore. It wasn’t his job to make her feel better. He was trying to save her life. That was far more than she could ask for.
    â€œShh . . .” he covered the earpiece with his hand and listened intently for several seconds. “We’re being ordered to land in Daytona.” He pointed over his shoulder. “Inside the table is a key that will unlock the shelves at the back of the plane. See if there’s anything you’re comfortable using. When we land, I want you armed.”
    â€œI have my gun.”
    â€œI told you, it won’t do you any good. You need silver to weaken most of them long enough to kill them.”
    â€œOh. Okay.”
    â€œAnd Shanna?”
    â€œHmm?” She was struggling with her seatbelt, struggling to remember how to stand the hell up.
    â€œDrink some water. Eat a sandwich. We’ll have to land in about ten minutes.”
    It took Shanna what felt like an eternity to pull herself together and unlock the weapons case at the back of the plane. The water had helped, but the sandwich was sitting heavy in her stomach and she wished she hadn’t forced it down. But now, the cop in her was coming alive at the sight of all the weapons in front of her. She instinctively reached for a set of knuckle rings on the lowest shelf and pocketed them, their sharp spikes stabbing her legs through the denim.
    â€œWhat else am I supposed to grab?” she called out, gravity shifting as the plane dropped altitude. They must be getting close to Daytona. Shanna