The Takeover Read Online Free PDF Page A

debated sending a burst to the doctor’s unprotected mind, but Ritter would disapprove of wasting energy I might need later. Besides, it wasn’t nearly as satisfying. I balled my fist and punched hard. The doctor dropped to the ground, her chest heaving with fear.
    “Who are you?” she asked. “What are you going to do? Please don’t hurt me!” Dimitri put a dart in her neck, and she lost consciousness.
    Ritter lifted a brow, a question flickering in his eyes.
    I shrugged. “I didn’t like her thoughts.”
    “Find someplace to stash her,” Ritter told me. “We’ll get the shaft open. Shadrach, you and your friends keep watch.”
    While Ritter boosted Dimitri up to work on the shaft located at the top of the wall near where the women had been talking, I dragged the unconscious doctor to a door down the hall. It was locked, but with a regular keyed doorknob instead of one with a card reader. I slipped off my shoes. Touching spots on both heels, thin metal rods slid out. Time to test my breaking and entering skills.
    Fortunately, it was a regular lock—one of the kind we’d practiced on almost daily in the past three months of downtime we’d had since the president’s announcement—and in seconds, the lock clicked opened to reveal a simple broom closet. I dragged the doctor inside and dumped her unceremoniously. Kneeling briefly, I pushed my mind into her unconscious thoughts, represented by a lake of cool water and bubbles full of memories. I severed one of the bubbles, taking the memory of our faces, but not the hit. I wanted her to remember that. Satisfied, I stole her key card and left, shutting the door behind me. She wouldn’t begin to wake for at least an hour. If they didn’t find her before then.
    The men had the shaft open, and Shadrach was already inside, helping Eden up as Dimitri boosted her. Fenton was next and then it was time for Dimitri. Ritter offered Dimitri the gun, but he shook his head, tapping his case. “I have one of those plastic printed ones in here. I’ll put it together when I get in the vent. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Just make sure you and Erin get back here fast.”
    “Don’t wait for us,” I said.
    Dimitri’s eyes went to me. “Be safe.”
    “If Shadrach hesitates, throw him off the roof,” I added.
    Dimitri laughed. “For you, I will. With pleasure.”
    Ritter boosted Dimitri into the waiting arms of Shadrach and the others. Next, he lifted me up to secure the vent cover in place.
    We hurried back down the corridor, passing the commons room where the detainees ate their meals and spent time together. Then came a set of locked double doors. I pulled out the key card I’d taken from the doctor.
    Ritter’s grin sent heat to my belly, but I shook my head. “There’s company on the other side. Four.”
    “Unbounded?”
    “No. Their life forces are bright. Not blocking. There’s a fifth somewhere beyond them who might be.”
    “Probably the last Emporium agent.”
    “Yeah. It’s strange though. Sometimes he’s bright and sometimes dim.”
    “Shadrach said his mind was damaged.” Ritter’s warm hands closed over mine. “Show me.” His mental shield had weakened, leaving a clear opening.
    Ritter’s mind was almost as familiar to me as my own. Not like a comfortable pair of pants, but more like a pool of hot, turbulent water that beckoned to me with a promise of adventure and delight, water that completely enveloped and consumed me. It was easy to lose myself in him. Once, that had scared me as much as his obsession with revenge, but now I trusted him more than anyone—with my life and with my heart.
    I showed him the life forces from the outside: two bright glows close to the other side of the door and two farther along the hallway. Then I took us inside one of the minds, the one most familiar to me—Dr. Hartley. She was talking to a Jeffrey Callas, who was obviously her superior. She wasn’t attracted to his flaccid red face, or his thinning hair,