The Mark of Fate: Book 3 of The Marked series by Ford, Rinna (romantic love story reading .TXT) 📕

“It does come in handy,” she beamed at me. Ingrid pulled out a map from another pocket and began studying it. “Emelia, your team will go that way,” she pointed to the left,” and Hiram, your team will go in that direction.” She pointed to the right. “We’ll give you all an hour head start. When you reach the facility, find ground cover until we give you the all clear signal. You know what to do after that.”

Amos began handing out earpieces for us to use so we could communicate with one another. I looked at my grandfather, impressed as I took mine from him and slipped it into my right ear. It was a little uncomfortable, but it didn’t bother me since it would be incredibly useful on the mission.

After we all tested our earpieces, we separated and went to our marks. The guys and I ran at a quick pace, although not as fast as vampires run since Xander and Marco weren’t vampires. We were able to see the facility long before our hour time limit and found a large grouping of shrubs and rocks to hide behind.

“Amos, we’re in place,” I said into my communicator.

“Good job,” he replied. “Stay out of sight until we tell you that it’s all clear.”

I sat on the ground with my back against a rock while everyone else settled in.

“They’re all casters like Dad said,” Xan whispered.

I got up on my knees and turned around so I could peek over the rock. There were four guards stationed at the barbed wire fence that surrounded the building and another three at the door we needed to get through. The closer I looked at them, the more I realized that they were right. There wasn’t a vampire or shifter in sight.

“Matias, do you see anyone else besides the seven I’m looking at?” I asked. With our vampire senses, we had the best eyesight out of the supernatural species but because of my issues with my caster side, my confidence wasn’t there.

His eyes made another pass and he took a deep breath in and out. “Just those seven,” he replied. “There are more on the other side of the building, but they’re not our problem for now. We can take out those few without raising any alarms and get in, no problem.”

We sat and watched the guards mill around their posts, not sensing any danger until Amos gave us the all clear. Matias looked straight at me and nodded his head. He and I were to go in first, using our speed to incapacitate the guards before they even knew what hit them. We both got up on our feet and crouched down as we walked around the rock, then took off toward the gate. I reached the two guards on the right and slammed their heads together, knocking them out. I then ran through the open gate toward the other guards but Matias had already beat me to them. All seven were knocked out like Amos wanted, and not at all dead. I knew my grandfather would be proud.

Within seconds, Xander and Marco were there, zip tying the guards’ hands behind their backs and taping their mouths shut so they wouldn’t be able to use spells against us if they woke up. The guys piled the guards up next to the building and covered them with a tarp after I went through their pockets and found key cards for us to use once we got into the building.

Xan used his card to unlock the outer door and peeked in before opening it and stepping inside. The rest of us followed him and Marco closed the door behind him. We all stood in the hallway for a second as we got our bearings since we had memorized the map of the facility.

Everything was sterile white, from the ceiling to the walls to the floor; very clean and not what I’d expect from a prison. It felt more like a hospital. Xan and I looked at each other at the same time and I knew that he came to the same conclusion that I had.

“This way,” Marco said, stepping in front. Our main target would be the control room. We were to find surveillance footage of the goings on and get out if there was nothing else to find.

He stopped at the corner and peered around, seeing a guard coming out of the surveillance room and walking toward us. Marco looked at Matias, giving him the go, and he took off around us, sweeping up the guard and knocking him out in less than a second.

My vampire mate stood at the door the man had just exited from and waited for us to join him. The guard was bound and gagged like the others, then Matias opened the door with his keycard and swept inside in an instant, knocking out two more guards without breaking a sweat.

Xander pulled the guard from the hallway inside the room and closed the door behind us all.

“We’re in the surveillance room,” he said into his communicator.

“Good job. Collect as much information as you can,” Amos commanded.

Marco and Matias began to do exactly that while my eyes went to the thirty-some monitors in front of me. At the top right, I saw the other rebel team sweep inside and go for the holding cells. They were to take recordings, papers, whatever they could find and get out while we did our job.

My eyes cast down to the screen below that one and I saw prison cells lined up across the walls of big rooms. Hands stuck out through the bars as prisoners were waiting for something.

Below that one, I saw some men and women in white lab coats walking in and out of a room. My eyes went left and I saw more scientists. I kept looking left until I saw groups of hospital beds. On them were people, supes. They were strapped down and in various