Ultimate Warriors (16 page)

     
"So,
you are sitting there telling me that you beat off to their mental sex tape on
assignment?" he demanded incredulously.

     
Julien
allowed a blush to creep into his cheeks. That sure as hell beats admitting the
truth. "It was less of a distraction than trying to sift around it. You
know that letting strands play out is easier than ignoring them." He
scowled.
"Even when strands are murders."
He
reminded Adrien of his early days on street crime. Julien had paid his dues in
the nightmare images that would haunt him for the rest of his days.

     
"There
is nothing else you have to tell me?" He was testing Julien’s shield
again, trying to gauge him for a lie.

     
"Nothing."

     
"Then
go about your duties," he ordered.

     
Julien
nodded and headed to the door, trailing his fingers over the surface of the old
man’s desk deliberately. Adrien seemed not to notice. Perhaps, he viewed the
move in amusement. Julien wasn’t sure what he intended even as he did it. The
old man never left strands for Julien to read. Either he spent all day in
synth-cloth to avoid a repeat of their first night together, or he used a comm
unit of some sort to wipe his office clean before Julien came in.

     
No. He
hadn’t used a comm unit. There were strong strands in the room. Three
first-years had been to the office that morning. One of them was Jennifer. Her
terror made Julien ache for her.

     
He
stilled as Visionchaser’s essence assaulted his mind. The trustee had always
been high-strung, and his panic was not unusual, but the panic wasn’t what
stopped Julien.

     
The
memory was crisp. Visionchaser — Larry Meyer — sat forward with his fingertips
pressed to the desktop. "What if he’s become a traitor like his
father?"

     
"We
will handle it as we did the last time," Adrien answered calmly.

     
The
vision was gone as quickly as it had come. Julien lifted his hand and ambled
toward the door.

     
"Something interesting, Soulchaser?"
Adrien
drawled in that same suspicious, challenging tone.

     
"Sealife
was in to see you, and she was very upset. I should check on her."

     
"You
spend quite a bit of time with her," he noted.

     
"She’s
a smart little girl, and she’s very powerful. Sealife will be a handsome asset
to a unit someday, better than Water Demon, by far."

     
"Ah.
I see. You’re recruiting from the cadets again."

     
Julien
forced a predatory smile onto his face. "A good leader never rests."

     
Adrien
chuckled, but there was something uneasy in his manner. "No. He
doesn’t."

     
Julien
headed for his quarters, barely taking note of the cadets at their training,
waving distractedly as Firebrand instructed third-year cadets in fireball
control.

     
Traitor?
If there was any question in his mind that
Visionchaser meant himself and Jake, Julien might not be so affected, but there
was no question. The strand left no doubt. Julien couldn’t argue that he was
acting the part of a traitor, but had Jake done the same?
Perhaps,
not a sexual encounter.
That was unlikely. By all accounts, Jake doted
on Patrice. Still, there were other forms of treason.

     
Julien
closed the door to his quarters slowly. His eyes locked on the shelf lined with
his father’s mementos and medals.
Pieces of Jake’s life and
not a single strand of his father’s essence to lead Julien, not a single memory
to tell the truth.

     
I have
to think logically. What do I have of him to guide me? The answer came, but
Julien resisted it. Jake taught him. He left pieces of his wisdom behind for
his son to learn from. The problem was that Julien always argued what Jake
taught him versus what his training said. Maybe he needed to take every comment
as a truth and see where it led him. What did he teach me?

     
The
victors write the histories. The histories of Suraden were written by the
Calante. That was suspect. If the histories were suspect, the axioms and
accepted truths were suspect. The Grellan might not be what he had been taught
they were.

     
For
every rule, there is an exception. Julien was brought into service two years
early. No cadet was brought into service early unless his or her powers posed a
danger to child or society — except Julien. Perhaps, there were other
exceptions. Was every Grellan a traitor? Should even the laws that governed the
Calante be absolute? But, what were the acceptable reasons for an exception?

     
Julien
shrugged off that maddening idea. Until a few moments earlier, he hadn’t
acknowledged the possibility that the rules might not be absolute. Defining it
further was too much for his mind to process.

     
Always
trust your gut instinct about people. Who did Julien trust? Jake and Patrice
topped the list, but that was a dead end. He groaned at his own pun. Jennifer?
Yes. Julien trusted Jennifer, but it wasn’t wise to show that openly. Using her
name showed less vulnerability than allowing her to use his. Did he trust
Angel?

     
Julien
shifted nervously. Don’t use your mind, he reminded himself. Don’t think what
you were trained to think.
From the gut.
Do you trust
Angel? Logic was the wrong course. Logic said that he should trust the old man,
but Julien never had. He took a deep breath. It was time for another of Jake’s
teachings.

     
Have
faith that your heart will lead you. When you meet a true confidant, you will
ache to bare your soul to her. Julien nodded, biting back a laugh. He trusted
Angel. He’d always wanted to trust her on some instinctive level.

     
Angel
took a deep breath, stretching out on the bed and following the draw of
Soulchaser’s mind. He looked up as she approached, nervous. He was fully
dressed. Angel sighed. She’d pushed too far the last time. His loss of control
must have shaken him.

     
She
smiled. "I’ve made you uncomfortable. I’m sorry."

     
He shook
his head, pulling Angel into his arms and covering her mouth with his. His
movements were urgent, a pressing need that made her ache for him. A week had
been too long.

     
Angel
groaned, reminding herself that it was only his mind she was touching, only a
simulation she felt — the interaction of thoughts and desires.

     
"I
want you," he breathed into her ear.

     
She
shivered. Angel wanted it, too. She’d dreamed of allowing him free rein, but
she’d set a rule for him, a level of trust he had to prove to her. "Not
until—"

     
"I
trust you."

     
Angel
blinked. She pulled back to meet his eyes. "You—" She had to have
misheard him. It was too much to hope that she had been successful so quickly.

     
"My
name is Julien," he whispered. His eyes darted about as if he would be
punished for saying it aloud.

     
She
gasped in surprise, nodding.
"Julien."
Angel
was dumbstruck. He’d actually said it. For weeks, she’d wondered what she would
do if he gave her a fake name to try and trick her, and he told her the truth.

     
He
blushed. "Yes
.."

     
Angel
touched his face. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Julien
Cross."

     
His eyes
widened. "You’ve always known?"

     
She
nodded. "You had to offer me that trust. Thank you." Her mind
whirled, and her body heated. She drew his hand to her breast. "I made you
a promise," she reminded him. Angel should be securing his safety, but
rewarding his trust had to come first.

     
Julien
stared at his hand, swallowing hard. "Not here. They suspect too much. I
need— I need to give them something, something significant to throw them off my
trail." He met her eyes hopefully. "Or will you tell me how to get
past the checkpoints? If I leave now—
You
promised."

     
"I
can’t show you now. You’ll have to come to me one more time."

     
Julien
tried to rein in his disappointment, but Angel felt it clearly across the
connection. He nodded, biting back a grimace that he had to go back to them.
For a mad moment, Angel considered finding a way to free him immediately, but
there was no way she and Anthony could arrange that on such short notice.

     
Angel
shook her head. "I will take you safely out, but you have to come to me at
a pre-arranged time, and you must trust me."

     
He
nodded,
a shaky nod. "Where and when?"

     
"Six
days from now at sunset. Come to the place where you first touched me.
Julien—" She bit her lip.

     
"Yes?"

     
"You
do trust me, don’t you? You would leave with me now, if you could?"

     
He took
a calming breath. "Yes. I trust you implicitly." Julien wound his
hand in her hair.

     
Angel
sighed in relief. "Good. Then I promise that you’ll leave with me that
night."

     
He
grimaced. "I still need something to tell them. What can I tell
them?"

     
She
smiled. "Tell them we are operating out of the armory outside the north
gate of the city. Tell them now, as soon as you get downstairs."

     
His eyes
widened. "If I do—"

     
"Hurry.
Use your comm unit if you want to. I guarantee
you will miss us by minutes, no matter what you do."

     
"They
will track you down. My unit is the best."

     
"Impossible.
Run, Julien. I’ll race you. Do you remember that game?"

     
He
nodded and turned toward the door.

     
"Run,
Julien. Make a good show for them."

     
Angel
returned to her body, as he bolted for the door, pulling his comm unit from his
jacket pocket and switching it on. The race was on.

     
She
launched into the main room, smiling widely. Julien trusted her. He’d come with
them.

     
Debra
looked up in surprise. "Angel," she admonished. "You’re—"

     
Angel
waved her off. She would have to be naked to make the jump. It was simply her
appearance this way that caught Debra off guard. "We’re leaving. Take
anything of importance."

     
Sylvia
gaped at her. "He’s turned us in," she managed weakly.

     
Angel
laughed aloud. "No. He hasn’t. But, to save him, we have to let it seem
he’s almost caught us.
Hurry.
They are on their
way."

     
The
others scattered. They carried little with them, so collecting their belongings
took only a moment. The helos were already approaching when Anthony grasped her
hand. Sylvia looked at them nervously. This would be a close one but not their
closest. She and Anthony wrapped the others in their shared power. They were
long gone before the door burst open.

* * * *

     
Julien
kept his expression studiously neutral. She’d done it. Angel had escaped
without a trace. He moved through the room, touching items at random.
"They’ve been here fairly steadily for more than two months." The
whole time they have been playing cat and mouse with me. "The strands are
strong. They’ve only been gone for a few minutes."

     
"How?"
Firebrand demanded.

     
Julien
shook his head. He stopped as a particularly strong mix of power, nervousness,
and giddy happiness coursed through his body. Julien sank to the floor, closing
his eyes as he opened himself fully to the sensations.

     
"What
is it?" Sky Master asked.

     
Julien
raised a hand to silence him then returned it to the floor. The pulse coursed
through him again, an elusive strand. He drew it into himself and turned his
face up.