Free Atoning by Kelley Armstrong Page A

scream.
    “About time,” Rae muttered.
    “That’s certainly an attention-getter,” Jacinda whispered. And it did grab our pursuers’ attention as they skidded to a stop with exclamations of “What—?” and “Jesus!”
    We tore off as fast as we could in the direction of the scream. Not exactly the plan, but the others would accommodate when they heard us coming. Except we didn’t get far before our pursuers resumed chase. One of them fired at Jacinda, and I don’t know if they were shooting to kill or just to spook us, but the fact they aimed for her told me they’d decided she was the most expendable, so I wasn’t taking a chance.
    “Left!” Liz shouted. “Into the offices! I’ll back them off.”
    Something crashed behind us. I don’t know what exactly it was, but it hit one of our pursuers. That’s the advantage of having a Volo half-demon ghost. In life, Liz had the power of telekinesis; in death, she’s a poltergeist.
    We raced into the back hall. My necklace got warm again, like it had in the tent when I’d blamed my sweaty hands. But I wasn’t clutching it now. Why would it…? I thought of what had been in that tent, and I stopped. I opened one door. Closed it. Opened another.
    “Chloe?” Rae said.
    I threw open the second door and waved them inside. Rae ran through and then stopped.
    “There’s a—” she began.
    “I know.”
    I pushed her in and closed the door behind us. Rae stared at the old desk in the middle of the room. Stared at what lay on top of it.
    “Is that…?” she said.
    “Luke,” I whispered. “They brought his body back. And I’m going to use it to get us out.”
     

     
    I resurrected Luke to use against our pursuers. I’d done that once before, in our attack on the Edison Group, raising a guard who’d been killed in the fighting. I’d felt horrible about it—dragging his spirit back into his broken body and forcing him to do my bidding. I did not feel horrible now. Like the guard, Luke had chosen to join a group hell-bent on holding us captive and not above hurting us if we didn’t care for that captivity. He’d made his choice. He’d paid for it. Now he’d pay again.
    Of course Luke didn’t want to do what I told him. But the point of being able to raise the dead is that I have the power to command them. I’d been getting training from a Cabal necromancer. I commanded Luke, and I ignored the rage and outrage in his eyes.
    Outside, we could hear our pursuers checking doors. From the footfalls, it was still the two of them. When Liz popped back, she confirmed that. She’d been racing between us and the others, checking in on them. They were doing fine. Whatever obstacle had delayed their attack, they’d overcome it. It wasn’t an easy fight, though. There were four other members of this group, all having converged on Derek, Maya and Daniel, all presumably armed, though Liz wisely didn’t tell me that.
    That meant the others were holding their own, but they couldn’t come to our rescue anytime soon. Which was fine. For perhaps the first time in my life, I didn’t just tell myself I could handle this—I believed it.
    Liz stood in the hall and called a play-by-play. Whatever our pursuers’ supernatural powers, neither was a necromancer, obviously, and they didn’t hear her as she told us exactly where they were and what they were doing.
    “Your door is next!” she called. “Get ready!”
    I motioned Luke into position.
    “Did you hear that?” the man whispered, his voice clear through the door. “They’re in here.”
    He already had his hand on the knob, turning it, as the woman said, “Wait! Isn’t that where Luke—?”
    He pulled the door open, and Luke charged. The man shot. The woman cursed. She didn’t shoot—she knew better. A thump sounded as the man hit the floor, followed by a yelp as Luke grabbed the man’s gun and whipped it into our room, on my command. Rae ran from our place behind the door, and Jacinda said, “Rae!” but