Free Atlas (The Atlas Series) by Becca C. Smith Page B

woman was saying. All she knew was that insane-o lady wanted her dead and wanted Jack to do it. “Who are you?” Kala decided to ask finally.
    This appeared to catch the woman off-guard as if she didn’t introduce herself that often. “Penny,” she said after a pause, then she looked at her watch impatiently. “If Jack doesn’t get here promptly I’m afraid I’ll have to take you to a safe house until he can kill you. You’ve made quite a mess in your wake.”
    Kala leveled her gun. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
    Penny apparently had had enough of Kala and her gun. She walked over to Kala and made Kala pull the trigger straight into her forehead.
    BAM!
    After the gun fired, Kala dropped the Beretta in shock. Why would this woman want Kala to kill her?
    But instead of a dead body, Penny stood in front of Kala with the same indignant look on her face. The newly made bullet hole closed up and healed before Kala’s eyes as the bullet popped out of Penny’s head, falling to the floor.
    Penny shook her head. “I can’t be killed, so don’t bother trying to threaten me. It’s annoying.”
    A strange screeching noise sounded from outside Kala’s apartment. Kala turned to the window wondering what on earth would make such a sound.
    Penny’s face went pale. “Asmodeus.”
    Kala turned to Penny. “What’s Asmodeus?”
    “Not someone I ever want you to meet. You’ve really screwed things up, you know? If you hadn’t blabbed that confession to your superior and whined about seeing the countdown, then we could have kept this whole thing under wraps. But now both sides know who the Atlas is. Know who you are. That’s never happened before. EVER.” Penny was beside herself with anger, but Kala noticed it was more than that. Penny was terrified.
    Kala had zero idea of how to respond to any of this. The screeching sounded again and it chilled her to the bone. Whatever this Asmodeus was didn’t sound friendly.
    “I may not be able to kill you, but I’m sure as hell not going to sit around and wait for my boyfriend to kill me.” Kala punched Penny as hard as she could and made a run for the door.
    Penny was too fast. She was already blocking the door before Kala could reach the knob. Kala went for another swing, but Penny grabbed Kala’s fist before it landed.
    “I’m trying to help you,” Penny scolded.
    “You just said you were basically babysitting me until Jack came to take me out,” Kala accused incredulously.
    Penny tilted her head in grudging agreement, “Well, temporarily help you until he gets here.”
    Kala shook her head in frustration and tried to shove Penny aside using one of her Aikido moves, but Penny was inhumanly strong. She pushed Kala to the floor.
    The screeching again, but this time sounding just outside the window.
    Penny pulled Kala to her feet. She placed Kala behind her body protectively. This whole situation was completely surreal. For someone who claimed to want Kala dead, Penny was certainly acting as if she wanted to save her.
    “Does this Asmodeus want me dead too?” Kala asked. She found that she wasn’t really scared. It felt like she was in combat and under attack. Nothing felt more natural to her. It was when Kala did her best thinking.
    Penny on the other hand was shaking with fear. “No, he wants you to fail. He wants the world to end.”
    Kala was sure this sentence would scare most people, but to her it was information on how to survive the upcoming attack. Whoever this Asmodeus was, he didn’t want her to die. Not yet anyway, Penny on the other hand was counting down the minutes until Jack arrived to kill Kala. So Kala’s choices were, Asmodeus, Penny or Jack?
    It wasn’t a question: Jack. This Penny girl might think Jack would kill Kala, but Kala knew Jack. He’d never let anything happen to her.
    Taking advantage of standing behind Penny, Kala picked up the discarded gun and shot seven rounds into the back of Penny’s head. Kala knew it wouldn’t