Read Online Sacrificed (The Ignited Series) by Desni Dantone - Free Book Online Page A

protection. Just in case.”
    “Can she shoot?” I whispered so as not to let Callie hear me.
    He nodded, though not very convincingly. “Enough to protect herself. I’m going to keep working with her though.”
    Again, I had a pang of jealousy. Not that I didn’t trust my best friend spending so much time with Nathan, and not that I didn’t want her to work with him—because I did, because I knew that if anyone could teach her to handle the situations we were going to be getting into, it was Nathan. I was jealous only because I wanted to be the one spending the extra time with him, purely for selfish reasons.
    As if Callie knew we were talking about her, she glided up beside me with a grin on her face. “Exciting, huh? My first battle.”
    “Probably won’t be that exciting,” Nathan said. Callie and I both turned to look at him. I knew she was thinking the same thing as I was—that killing a few Skotadi might not be exciting to him , but to us, tonight was a big deal. Then, he explained what he meant. “Tonight’s more of a stake out.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, not hiding my disappointment. Haven’t we done enough staking out? It hadn’t led to anything, so why bother again?
    “We’re going to follow them,” he amended, “see where they go in those vans, what they do, stuff like that. We’re after information. We probably won’t have much action tonight. There’s a good chance they won’t even go anywhere tonight.”
    A few hours later, sitting in the backseat of the Tahoe with Callie—Alec in the driver’s seat and Nathan riding shotgun—I realized that Nathan hadn’t been kidding about the lack of action. At first, like maybe the first hour, I’d been hopeful.
    Micah, Richie, and Gabby were positioned on the ridge above the warehouse, watching. The plan was for them to call us with one of the two prepaid cell phones they had purchased when—if ever—the Skotadi made a move. Parked and hidden along the side of the road as we were in the Tahoe, we would then fall in behind the Skotadi and follow them. After hours of silence, I started to lose hope that anything was going to go down tonight.
    In our third hour, a call finally came in. Nathan answered on the first ring, and Micah’s voice came through on the speaker phone. “Van headed your way. Four Skotadi, minimally armed.”
    Alec rubbed his hands together like a kid on Christmas morning and started the engine. “About damn time,” he said.
    “Let’s stick to the plan,” Nathan said into the phone. “We’ll direct you until you catch up to us.”
    I heard heavy breathing through the speaker, and imagined Micah, Gabby, and Richie were hauling ass back to their vehicle. “Check back in ten minutes,” Micah panted before Nathan disconnected the call.
    A few moments later, we saw the van’s headlights. Though we were hidden well, parked far off the main road on a bumpy dirt road next to a large green tractor, I still slouched down in my seat as they passed. Only after their taillights disappeared did Alec pull out behind them. We weren’t worried about losing them. Out here, there were only so many places they could go, and this road had exactly two turnoffs they could take between here and the nearest town, twenty minutes away. Those side roads didn’t really lead anywhere, so we figured they were more than likely headed into town.
    Every so often, after rounding a bend or when cresting a hill, we got a glimpse of their taillights ahead of us. 
    “Don’t follow too close,” Nathan said to Alec.
    “I know how to tail someone,” Alec returned. “Being Evil and Doing Evil Things 101. Only class I ever gotten an A in.”
    “They also teach you how to spot a tail?” Nathan asked.
    “Yeah.” Alec hesitated, then added, “Point taken. They won’t spot us.”
    And they didn’t. We followed them for twenty minutes without incident. Micah called to check in twice, confirming that they weren’t far