“No blue lights.” I hadn’t checked inside the outer box, but I was confident the inner box was still holding strong. I hadn’t exerted too much sensing effort during my fight with the two Emporium agents. Not compared to past events. “I’m ready for whatever, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I know you are.”
Of course he did. The link that had formed between us was beautiful and more than a bit terrifying because it meant so much. I wanted to take his hand to pull him closer. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and feel his body next to mine. We’d been waiting to be together for what seemed like forever.
His eyes slid over my face as if to say,
We’re almost there.
Piece of cake,
my eyes said back.
We only needed to stop a nuclear war first. Oh, and face the most powerful woman in the world to purge the snake from my mind. What was I worrying about?
Keene and Mari were already waiting for us at our SUV. Keene’s green eyes ran over my face, as if noting the damage there. I hadn’t seen him yet since his return from the employee condo, but he appeared no worse for his brush with the fire, except for the lingering smell of smoke. Again I wondered what his ability was, or if he even knew. He wouldn’t be the first to discover it in the heat of battle. If he’d learned anything during his confrontation with the Emporium tonight, he hadn’t shared it with us yet.
I turned to open the door and found Mari watching me with Keene, the slightest frown on her face. She smoothed it over immediately, but it made me wonder if something had happened between them. Mari hadn’t seemed interested in men since her Hunter husband’s betrayal and brutal death, but I sort of hoped she and Jace would eventually get together. Not that I blamed her for any fascination she might have with Keene. Though I’d chosen Ritter, I understood Keene’s attraction only too well.
The SUV was rather a tight squeeze, and somehow I ended up between Shadrach and Jeane in the middle seat. Ritter drove, and Stella rode in front with her computer and other equipment. Keene and Mari were in the back. We wouldn’t have enough room for everyone once we caught up with Jace and Cort, unless Mari shifted back to the hotel instead of riding.
Shadrach surprised me by putting his hand over mine as it rested on my knee. “May I?” he said. “You are in pain, and I can help.”
So could a bottle full of painkillers, but I let him continue. The only experience I’d had with a healer was Dimitri, and I was curious.
Shadrach closed his eyes, and I knew he was feeling his way mentally through my body, finding the wounds and directing the healing. He couldn’t see internal thoughts or influence people as I could, only feel his way, tracing veins and pathways, finding what needed repair.
“It’s healing well already,” he murmured, his voice warm and assuring.
I wished I dared push my thoughts into Shadrach’s brain and follow his process as I had Dimitri’s, but I didn’t dare risk feeding my unwanted mental passenger.
After five minutes, my headache eased and my arm stopped burning. Another five and the throbbing in my leg faded. He continued for another five minutes until my phone buzzed. I grabbed it, recognizing the different vibration pattern as belonging to Jace.
“Hey, Jace,” I said. “You all in one piece?”
“Last I checked. Are you with His Deathliness?”
“Oh, yeah. We’ve been waiting to hear from you.”
“Well, tell him I followed them to a place they seem to be guarding very heavily.”
“Let me put you on speaker.” I clicked the button.
“Okay, so, this place is little more than an old stone house with a second-floor addition. Looks like a warehouse of sorts now. No one here is dressed in protective gear, and they haven’t taken in or out anything that could be the plutonium, but they’re guarding something inside. Wait. Hold it a minute.”
A long pause. “Okay, they’re putting one, two, three—let’s see . . . about a dozen men in the van I followed. They’re not tied up or anything. They’re heading back toward the factory.” He waited several seconds before adding, “The soldiers who came in the van are staying here, though.”
“I’m putting in a call to Cort,” Stella said.
Ritter nodded sharply. “Have him be on the lookout for the van. Might be heading there.” After glancing at Stella’s monitor where we were tracking Jace’s locator chip, he added to Jace, “We should be near your location in seven more minutes.”
We were already going faster than was probably safe on this narrow road in the dark, but I felt the SUV’s speed increase. “What else do you see?” I asked Jace.
“Nothing. I’m out in the middle of the woods and that’s about it. They’ve got at least one guard on the roof and a couple around the perimeter, but most are inside. I see lights on the second floor through a lot of narrow windows. There are at least a dozen windows on each side, and the building’s not that big.”
“Sounds like where they’ve taken the employees from Habid’s condo,” I said.
“What employees?” Jace asked.
By the time I’d finished explaining about Habid and the missing factory employees, Stella had found a route that didn’t pass the factory but would bring us close to Jace’s position. “But are you sure we should go there?” she asked. “What about the factory?”
Ritter hesitated only a second before saying, “Cort can handle the factory for now. He’ll alert us if he sees them moving anything out. Let’s go see what they’re guarding at that house.”
I knew it was a gut feeling, not something he was sure about, but Ritter was a master strategist and his gut was usually better than most intel.
Stella peered into the darkness. “Turn left on the next little road. It’s small, so don’t miss it. I’ll let you know when we need to douse the lights.”
Cort reported in, letting us know the van had returned to the factory with a group of men he guessed were the night shift workers. “Different workers are coming out now,” Cort said. “Most are getting in the van. They’re being escorted by an armed guard. But a few must be local employees because they’re leaving in their own cars. No guards for them.”
“They’re letting some people leave?” Mari asked. “Why?”
Ritter glanced in his rearview mirror, though he couldn’t possibly see Mari inside the dark cab. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re only concerned with workers who’ve had recent contact with Habid. They can’t know how much he’s told them about his dealings with the American reporter.”
“Habid shouldn’t have contacted that man,” Shadrach said.
“Well, the reporter’s out of the picture now,” I said. There was a possibility that Walker would be picked up by the Emporium, but he’d seemed to understand the danger. Surely he’d taken a class at some fancy college that taught him not to leave a trail when he researched semi-immortal killers who planned to start the next world war.
“Turn off the headlights,” Stella said. “We can drive on this road a bit more as long as we can see, but Jace’s location is high enough that if they have a guy on the roof, he’ll notice the lights long before he hears our engine.”
She let us go another few miles before signaling Ritter to pull the SUV behind a clump of trees near the side of the road. The vegetation here, so close to the river, was lush and plentiful, except for on the road itself, which had been cleared at some point—thankfully, since we were using the overhead satellite for our phones and Stella’s equipment and needed a clear path.
Stella packed her laptop in a small carrying case and slung it across her shoulder while the rest of us climbed from the vehicle. I texted Jace to let him know we were coming. As we approached his location, I released the block I was holding over my mind in order to sense any life forces nearby. Ritter looked at me, and I shook my head. No sign yet.
We fanned out, moving silently in the night. Shadrach’s ministrations had eased my pain, and the curequick hummed through my veins, giving me energy. I felt eager and anxious to do battle again, despite the lingering discomfort in my thigh. Tiny, dim life forces filled the bushes and vegetation, revealing a plentiful assortment of animals and insects. I didn’t try to block them. The faint star-like lights were beautiful in their own way, and there were no accompanying human thoughts to complicate my emotions.
I signaled the others when I spotted Jace, and we angled toward him. “The van came back about a minute ago,” he told us when we reached him. His blond hair was out of place, but he wasn’t breathing heavily from his recent sprint. His broad grin told me he was having fun. He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the building. “Bunch of guys got out and went inside.”
“It’s the workers who just finished their shift at the factory,” I said. “Or most of them.” Though the building itself was draped in shadow and its features unclear from where we stood, to me it was shining with life forces. With a little effort, I began counting. “Twenty-six inside. Plus the guy on the roof and the two outside under the trees. We get a little closer, I might be able to tell which of those inside is Habid.” Six of the life forces inside were dimmer, which meant Emporium soldiers or someone else was blocking thoughts.
“I don’t think Habid’s here,” Jace said. “If they know he’s a spy, they’ll have no use for him at the factory anymore. Besides, if he’s in there, how are we going to get him out?”
“We’re going in.” Ritter altered his position slightly so the moonlight shone on his face. “At least some of us. Stella, am I right in assuming that place doesn’t have any electronic shield or blocking signals?”
“Nope, it’s clean.” She already had a device out of her bag and was punching buttons on it. “I’m sending in a bot right now, but I’m pretty positive we can use the radios.”
He grinned at me, as much in his element as Jace. “You feel like climbing, Erin?”
“Live for it.” If I could get inside, I knew I could find Habid. Stella had shown me a photograph back at the hotel before Shadrach’s arrival, but he should be easy to identify even without that. He’d be the only guy who was mentally blocking but not carrying an assault rifle.
“Erin, Mari, and I are going to get closer to the house after those guards pass,” Ritter continued. “Jace, you make sure the guards stay away. Rustle the leaves if you have to. Take them on a little chase. As long as they don’t see you, they’ll decide it was an animal. We shouldn’t need much time to break into a place like that, and I’ll give you the signal when we’re clear. Only Erin’s going inside. She’ll be able to avoid everyone and get close enough to Habib to get through his shield and communicate with him. When she’s ready to get out, Mari will be close enough to let Erin channel her ability so she can shift back to us. I’ll be ready to initiate a direct assault in case Erin needs a distraction. Last resort, of course.”
“What about my son?” Shadrach’s voice was hoarse.
Ritter turned to him. “If Habid’s in there, I doubt they’re letting him walk around free so he can rile up the other employees. Breaking him out will endanger the mission. We have to get the plutonium first and then come back for him.”
Shadrach nodded, but the darkness didn’t hide the pain in his expression. I knew that pain well. It was a fact of our existence, one that we were doomed to experience. Everyone we loved would die, unless we were lucky enough for one to Change. It was why our group of Renegades were closer than family.
“We’ll maintain radio silence except for the absolute necessary.”
I felt guilty as Ritter said this. The only reason we needed the radio instead of using me to communicate was to diminish the banquet for Delia’s snake. Truthfully, I had begun to wonder if I could best Delia at all, and thinking that way meant I was halfway down the path to defeat, which scared me.
Ritter glanced over the group. “Keene, maybe you’d better move closer with us so you can keep an eye on that guy on the roof in case he gets any ideas.” Ritter paused, looking at Jeane. “You stay with Shadrach,” he said almost regretfully. “You won’t be able to go inside with her anyway.”
As he had in Austin, Ritter led the way, with Mari and me following. Keene also came along, though he angled away from us, moving as close as he could to the building while still maintaining a direct view of the roof. The going was easy; in most spots the trees and shrubbery grew clear up to the house. After a while, we left Keene’s life force behind. Moments later, I became aware of him climbing a tree.
I wanted to check on Jace, but the brightness of the life forces coming from the building had increased as we approached, and I had to clamp down a bit to maintain my equilibrium. The snake box in my mind was shooting out blue again, now that Jeane and I were separated, but that couldn’t be helped. My energy level was high and I barely limped.
Ritter studied the windows before pointing to the second window near the left end. “Anyone up there?” When I shook my head, he motioned. “Go, then. You shouldn’t need a crowbar for this one.” He had a gun out, but it was a tranque, and I knew that if he did find anyone, he hoped to deal with them and still somehow maintain anonymity.
“Can’t I go with her?” Mari asked. “I could back her up.”
Ritter gave a grunt of dissent. “Too many people inside. Easier for her to sneak around on her own and shift out quickly before anyone sees her. Besides, you suck at climbing.”
I stifled a laugh. Mari didn’t see the point of practicing climbing when she could simply fold space and appear wherever she wanted. I was tempted to shift up to the window myself and avoid the battle with my fear of heights, but it simply wasn’t an option because I couldn’t see well enough what to grab on to. Without a rope and grappling hook, I’d likely end up on my butt. Better to do it the old-fashioned way.
Mari touched my arm as I left the bushes where we crouched, her way of saying good luck. Her mind was open and inviting, but I didn’t exert the effort to connect with her. I was marginally aware of Keene somewhere behind us, high in the tree, and I was glad to have him help cover my approach to the building. He’d be equipped with night vision goggles and would be able to follow my progress. I could see the guard’s life force on the far side of the roof, glowing dimly, but I might lose track of him depending on what else drew my attention.