The Reckoning (30 page)

Mari held up a key card. “No, we’re just going to walk inside. The bellhop was nice enough to donate this to our cause. Unknowingly, of course.” She grinned, making the death grip on my heart lessen marginally.

We left the elevator several floors before the penthouse and took the stairs from there, pausing in the stairwell after we crept up the last flight. I pushed my own thoughts through my shields, searching for life forces. “Two just in the hall,” I whispered.

“That’s all?” Ritter asked.

I bit back a sharp retort because I knew he wasn’t over being mad at me. And I couldn’t blame him—I’d also be angry if our roles were reversed. I had to admit that I felt better with him here, even if my concern for him and the others had replaced my original fears about going in alone. I had to remind myself that this wasn’t an Emporium stronghold, and it was doubtful they had as many people in place in Casablanca’s city government as they did in Washington DC. Morocco wasn’t exactly a stepladder to world control.

Ritter nodded at Cort, who came to stand near him. Cort reached for the stairwell door and, on Ritter’s signal, opened it with a fluid motion. Ritter moved so fast, he almost vanished from sight. He cut down the two men guarding the hallway with a few punches. Neither Cort nor Keene had time to let off a silenced shot.

Jeane stepped past me, her eyes holding mine with a hint of satisfaction that told me she’d used her ability on the men so they couldn’t instinctively react to Ritter’s accelerated attack.

Ritter and Cort hurried forward and fanned out on either side of the penthouse door. With a soft sound resembling an intake of breath, Mari appeared next to Cort. Jeane followed more sedately, stepping delicately over the fallen men. On her heels, Keene paused to send two silenced shots into one of the downed guards. I did the same to the other man. We couldn’t have them reviving and coming after us. I just hoped no hotel employees found reason to come here before we were safely gone.

The blue light was flickering now and growing, like a flame receiving more oxygen. Delia had to be close.

While Ritter glanced at his phone, which contained the blueprints of the hotel Stella had sent him, I concentrated on what was behind the penthouse door. No life forced glowed in the larger room on the other side of the door, but there was a faint life force in one of the back bedrooms. I pointed and held up one finger. Ritter met my eyes, and I saw the worry there plainly. Exactly my reaction. Delia couldn’t possibly be there alone, could she? So either she was shielding her own life force and the one I was picking up was a guard, or she wasn’t here.

I felt nearly panicked at this thought. Last night I almost hadn’t made it back to my body. What if that was her plan all along? Maybe Delia didn’t need to confront me to win. The pressure in my mind was great, but I resisted the urge to touch the box or the streams of blue light, worried that I’d no longer be in control.

Mari pushed in the key card and pulled it out again, stepping back. Ritter slowly eased the door open and slipped inside with Cort. We all followed carefully, guns drawn. Only Jeane had no weapon. Her eyes glistened brightly, reminiscent of the blue lights in my head.

Ritter and Cort were already heading down the hall, checking each room thoroughly, one by one. I started after them. The life force I felt was dim. So dim, the person could be dying. I pushed out tentatively . . . searching. There, I had it. A surge of elation ran through me as I examined the barely conscious thoughts. It was Habid, Shadrach’s son! I made my way to the door at the end of the hallway, turned the knob, and pushed it open. The room was dark and nothing appeared to be inside. The fading life force beckoned me to the closet.

The instant I walked into the dark room, I knew it was a mistake. Immediately, half a dozen life forces blinked into existence. I could feel a similar thing happening in the other penthouse rooms as at least two sensing Unbounded uncovered the shields they’d used to hide their comrades’ presence. Soldiers burst from closets, bathrooms, and from behind beds. Each carried a pistol or assault rifle.

THE LIGHTS FLICKERED ON IN
the room to reveal Delia Vesey, sitting on a leather chair near a black desk. Standing at her side was her assistant, a sensing Emporium agent. I recognized that slight figure, the tight blond curls, and the crunched facial features only too well after the incident in New York. He was Lew Roberts, and like my would-be brother, Jonny, he looked seventeen or eighteen because of his forced early Change, but he was also over a hundred. Two soldiers stood on each side of the door, four in all, their rifles aimed at my head. One snatched the gun from my hand.

“Hello, Erin,” Delia said, arising. “I wouldn’t move if I were you.”

I was thinking of doing just that, but the blue lights in my mind emitted a blinding flash, as if welcoming the woman. I clamped down on my thoughts. I wouldn’t let her in. Not like this.

As Delia came toward me, her assistant flicked open the heavy curtains, revealing an impressive panoramic view of Casablanca, the Hassan II Mosque towering over the other buildings in the distance. It was impressive and foreign, and for an instant, I felt awed at its majesty.

If judged only by looks alone, Delia’s thin lips would have precluded her from true beauty, but her regal face, the intent expression in her brown eyes, and her confident carriage made her striking. She wore a tan pantsuit, with a sheer, flowing duster that fluttered as she walked. The early morning light was kind, and her wrinkles and graying hair seemed muted. She appeared to be only in her sixties, but I knew better.

Lew Roberts trailed his mentor like the lapdog he was. I hated the disgusting man, though less than I should, given that he’d been a part of an attempt to use me as an incubator for his genetically enhanced sperm. He was only Delia’s pawn.

One of the guards took a knife and cut off my robes and head coverings, and then he and another man thoroughly checked me for weapons. As they took my pistols, knives, and even a bit of rope, I tried to reach my friends outside the room, but my thoughts couldn’t find them.

Was Jeane using her ability out there and was that what was preventing me? Was she helping Ritter and the others? Except for the block, I felt normal, and Delia and her assistant didn’t seem to notice anything odd, so whatever Jeane was doing, it wasn’t targeted inside this room.

A deep shout came from somewhere in the penthouse, and I felt sick not knowing what was happening. This was why I’d wanted to come alone. Because Delia and I would still have to battle, but now she had more ammunition against me. I was worried more about my friends than defeating her.

Pushing past my fear, I reached out to both Delia and Lew. Lew’s shield was a tremendous whorling black mass that seemed to have a life of its own. It was the kind of mental shield I was helping our Renegades develop, one I would have trouble getting through, even at full power. Delia’s barrier, however, was different this time. I couldn’t see past the granite wall, but the blue lights in my mind reached out to her and disappeared inside her shield like an umbilical. I suspected if I touched the blue, I could ride it and delve inside her mind, but since that’s what her thought construct was apparently designed to do, I wasn’t sure that was the way to fight her. Then again, there didn’t seem to be any other way. I wasn’t getting through those four armed guards, even if Jeane managed to null their abilities.

From the closet came a brief flicker of the faint life force there.
Habid.
I couldn’t help him now, but I would certainly try to get us both out of here. I reached out to him and thought,
Hang on. We’re coming.
Hope could do marvelous things, though where I was concerned, it seemed to bring pain just as often. Like thinking about my poor grandmother.

But I was still alive. So that was something.

We heard sounds in the hallway and turned as Ritter and Cort were shoved into the room. Ritter hadn’t been captured easily and was bleeding from a split lip and a cut on his head, and through the half-torn robe, I could see at least one bullet wound in his right shoulder, the arm hanging uselessly at his side. The earbud he’d been wearing earlier to connect with Stella was missing. Two guards, a man and a woman, held pistols at his head, each of them sporting numerous wounds. In stark contrast, Cort and his two male captors seemed unhurt.

Keene was pushed into the room next by none other than Edgel, a tall, broad man with a large flat nose, close-cropped hair, and glorious black skin. Only months earlier, Edgel had worked for Keene, who had been under his father’s control. It seemed a lifetime ago. There had been respect and loyalty between them, but subsequent run-ins had shown us that Edgel’s loyalty to the Emporium ran far deeper than any friendship he’d felt for Keene. I knew Edgel blamed us for the death of his mortal daughter, her existence the only secret he’d ever kept from the Emporium, and the revenge he sought against us made him that much more dangerous.

Jeane came in after Keene, her face frozen in shock, though the male guard with her seemed less fierce than the others. The additional Emporium agents brought the total in the room to ten, all Unbounded, plus Delia and Lew. Not overwhelming odds if they hadn’t surprised us.

My fault,
I thought.
I’m the one who was in a hurry to get here.
Yet what other choice could I have made? Tomorrow, it might have been Delia who woke up in Ritter’s arms. The idea of her touching his body, even with my hand, made me furious.

Mari was nowhere to be seen, so apparently she’d shifted somewhere when the unveiling had begun. But she wouldn’t go far. She knew that as long as I could reach her, I could shift out. I wouldn’t abandon the others, of course, but shifting to another location could be helpful. However, I didn’t search for her now, not wanting to call Delia’s attention to her. As long as that blue light was between us, I couldn’t trust myself.

“Ah, welcome,” Delia said to Ritter and the others, “though I must say, I’m a little surprised. I didn’t think Erin would risk her friends like this. She’s already recently lost her dear grandmother.”

Bile rose in my throat. “Let them go,” I snarled.

She laughed. “Oh, no. I’m sure Tihalt will be happy to have his sons back.” She gave Cort a mirthless grin and then laughed again as her eyes fixed on Keene. I knew she was noticing his Change. “It’s never too late,” she said. “Your father will be pleased.”

Keene spat on the carpet, but that only seemed to increase Delia’s amusement. Her eyes wandered over to settle on Jeane. “Thank you, dear, for bringing her.”

Jeane’s gaze didn’t change, but Delia’s face suddenly darkened. With an abrupt, angry motion, she signaled Lew, who lunged toward Jeane. Flicking out a knife, he grabbed her around the neck, holding the blade to her throat. Beads of blood appeared on her pale flesh. She grimaced with pain, her head arching back into her captor’s chest, their eyes meeting.

“Don’t try that again.” Lew’s nostrils flared slightly as he spoke, his voice high and nasal. They knew each other; I could see it in both their eyes. There was history here. I wondered if Jeane had spurned him at one time. I wouldn’t be surprised, and if so, I knew he would take great pleasure in hurting her now.

“You belong to me,” Delia told her. “You always have. You live only because you are useful. Don’t waste that or maybe I’ll find you need another decade or two of rest.”

“Rest!” Jeane’s eyes blazed with hatred.

“You’ll be rewarded soon.” Delia’s comment came out more patronizing than soothing, but I doubted it was on purpose.

Again, Jeane’s eyes rolled up to meet Lew’s. Met and held for at least two seconds, and then both looked away.
History,
I thought. Knowing Lew’s cruelty, I wondered if Jeane wasn’t better off rotting in the bomb shelter where we’d found her.

“You can let her go, Lew,” Delia said. “For now.”

Delia swiveled her head back to the rest of us, clapping her hands together as if closing a book. “So, this is the group that caused me havoc in Venezuela and again here last night. Well, that’s over now.” She drew in a deep breath, looking at Edgel. “If you’ll please go collect our package. It should be here by now.” Edgel nodded and moved out of the room, taking one of the guards near Cort with him. I hoped they wouldn’t run into Mari, wherever she was hiding.

The tension was so high in the room, I could have felt it through all the mental shield construction in the world. Ritter, Cort, and Keene were alert, and I knew they were ready to act. Jeane also met my gaze, her eyes moving back and forth between me and the guards, her face determined. So, maybe she was nulling at least some of their abilities. If they weren’t sensing Unbounded, they shouldn’t notice until it was too late. I was reasonably confident Delia and Lew wouldn’t realize what Jeane was doing, either, unless they were actually inside their guards’ minds, which wasn’t necessary at the moment. Of course, that still left Delia and Lew to deal with, and that would fall to me.

I wished I knew more about the snake she’d planted in my head. Or the piece of her thoughts—whatever it was. What was it doing? Well, beside connecting us and draining my strength. And how could I get rid of it? If I asked, she wouldn’t answer outright, and I wondered if I’d have no choice but to ride the stream of blue light and find the answer inside her mind. Though I’d been in her consciousness before, something in me recoiled at the idea now. Before it had been my choice; with the blue lights, all control was hers. I didn’t want to fall into any trap she’d created for me.