Delirium (8 page)

“Director Bright’s dead,” Harlen said.

“I know.” She’d seen it on the news. “That Chimera official James Dugan did it. At least she took him with her. He was one of Lambert’s men, right?”

“Yes, exactly. Listen…the Oneiros may move on me, too,” he said. “You’ve got to get out of the restaurant. It’s not safe. People here at Chimera might know we’re connected.”

She rammed into fourth gear and added a turn signal—she was losing the lane from the freeway on-ramp and had to move over.

“I’m out already,” she said, “and I, uh, might’ve gone overboard, but as soon as I heard about Director Bright, I picked up your parents. And called your brother and sister.”

Eleanor, now beside her, had been positively stony. Harlen’s dad, in the back, had been cheerful and extra helpful, even offering to drive blindfolded when she stalled the second time in front of their house. They were listening to every word she said.

“You wha…?” Harlen asked.

Sera’s worry intensified. “Was that okay? I can take them home again just as eas—”

“Will you
please
just marry me?” he said, voice rough with relief.

Warmth spread throughout her. She’d done the right thing after all. “Yeah, okay.”

From moving in together to marriage in one short step. Worked for her.

Unfortunately, Harlen was also saying that her sudden concern that his family might be in mortal peril had merit. It meant he was in mortal peril, too. Her eyes burned with angry, frustrated tears.

“Listen,” he added, “they might be looking for your car.”

She had that covered, too. “I borrowed Natalia’s decrepit Geo Prizm, though I’m killing the clutch. Your parents are with me now. We’re headed to the place Rook and Jordan are renting. Just in case, I blindfolded them so they wouldn’t be able to recall the location. Be there in about twenty minutes.”

Harlen sighed. “And will you have my children?”

“Yep,” she said, blinking fast against tears.

“I don’t have to worry?” He sounded a little bewildered.

“Not about your family. I’m on it. I’ll see you”—waiting would be excruciating, but she wouldn’t put any more demands on him—“when I see you.”

“Love you,” he said.

“Love you, too.” And the line went dead.

The car was silent for a moment, which Sera appreciated because she was having trouble swallowing her fear and worry and outrage. Traffic was fast and the Prizm was not. She wanted to speed, to fight, but she could only grip the steering wheel and mutter and sniffle.

“You’ll explain eventually, won’t you?” Eleanor said.

“Yeah,” she answered. “Just give me a minute.”

Rook owned a loft near Mission Beach, an old factory that he’d converted. But he and Jordan hadn’t gone back there when they’d returned to the area a couple of days ago. They’d rented a vacation house on Coronado Island, instead, which was where Sera was headed. Since it was off-season, it was less expensive and the crowds were smaller. They’d be just one more tourist couple.

Sera pulled into the house’s open garage with relief—she hadn’t realized she’d been tensing all her muscles for the duration of the drive. She’d have to contact Harlen’s brother and sister again to make sure they’d ended up somewhere safe, too.

Jordan came to the side door to help Harlen’s parents in through the kitchen and into the small front room.

“Is Rook below?” Sera asked, referring to Darkside.

“Yep.” Jordan removed the Harlen’s parents’ blindfolds. “He’ll be under for another hour or so working.”

Harlen’s parents stood close together, but their expressions were wary as they looked around. The furniture was bulky and outdated, the decorations on the walls and side tables beachy. There was a faint hint of old cigarette smoke and cat. It was a single-level place—front room, kitchen, and a couple of bedrooms in the back. Not a high-end rental.

Sera made the introductions. “Eleanor and Gary, this is Jordan. Malcolm Rook, who’s sleeping here somewhere, used to be Chimera. They’re both doing everything they can to help Harlen.”

Eleanor’s face was pale and pinched. “Help Harlen how?”

“And what are
we
doing here?” Gary added with a super friendly smile to make up for his wife.

Sera caught the this-is-all-you glance from Jordan and took a deep breath before answering. She’d always been too blunt, but she figured better that—and respect Harlen’s parents—than dance around the seriousness of the situation.

“Director Bright, Harlen’s boss,” she said, “was shot and killed this morning by a member of a very powerful group called the Oneiros. Harlen, and by extension both of you, could be targeted next.”

Eleanor’s expression hardened. “The Oneiros cult?”

Gary lifted to his chin knowingly. “They’re pushing back against Harlen’s new division’s powers.”

Sera blinked in surprise. “Yeah. Basically. How do you know about them?”

One of Eleanor’s thin brows winged up. “You weren’t saying much about Harlen’s new job, so we started researching what’s going on Darkside. Under all the
Keep Dreams Free!
protests were hints about a war in the Scrape.”

Gary widened his eyes. “I got into some online forums where all the posts were about a dark god they’re calling the Sandman.”

“Which forums are you on?” Jordan asked.

Gary cocked his head. “Well, I’m on The One, but I haven’t leveled up yet. And Drowning, but I can’t make sense of that one at all. When Sera came to pick us up this morning, I had just found a back door on that band Revelations’ site for the song
Take Me
.”

Jordan gestured toward her laptop. “What back door? Can you show me?”

“Okay. Sure.” He moved to the table and sat down, Eleanor standing behind him.

Sera shot Jordan a sidelong glance as he typed in a web address to the band’s site. A familiar power ballad immediately ripped from the laptop’s speaker. Sounded like the one Natalia and her new love interest had been bumping hips to in the kitchen yesterday. Catchy.

“One more thing,” Sera said to Jordan.

They backed a couple of steps away from Harlen’s parents. “What?”

Eleanor and Gary were now safe in the waking world, but Darkside, they’d be vulnerable. There was only one safe place in the dreamwaters.

Sera leaned her head in and spoke low. “Vince’s Tandem Tech.”

Vince Blackman, before he went crazy, had been developing technology for use Darkside. Tandem Tech linked dreamers so they could share their dreamscapes, dream in tandem.

Jordan had just started using the technology with her sister. It allowed Jordan to descend directly into Maze City when she slept, instead of sinking into her own dreamscape and then having to cross the Scrape to find the city, as Sera had done to deliver Harlen’s message to Vince. It was intimate—something for lovers or family or maybe trusted, close friends.

Jordan inhaled deeply, as if taken aback. “I don’t know if Maisie would be okay with that.”

“Do you have any other ideas?” Considering Harlen’s constant risk, she was sure as hell going to make sure his family was safe.

Eleanor, always watching, glanced their way, then leaned back to look at the laptop screen where Gary was typing.

“What about the Agora?” Jordan asked low, a hand nonchalantly coming up over her mouth. “Harlen could set them up in a Rêve there.”

Sera gave her a long look. The Oneiros were inside the Agora.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jordan said. “I get you. I’ll talk Maisie.”

***

“Please hold for Senator Fleight.”

The word
Hold
came up on Harlen’s nav screen.

He leaned back in his chair behind the folding table that was acting as his desk until a real one could be found or requisitioned. The rest of his new office was in a similar state of transition. The built-in shelves on the wall held binders labeled Rêve Law. The ceiling above had a water stain in one corner, and the air-conditioning was on too high, but it felt good to him.

His new assistant, Cody Something, opened the door, a large, stuffed envelope under an arm.

“Not now,” Harlen said.

Cody remained in the doorway. “It’s marked urgent, sir.”

Harlen waved him in and scribbled his signature on a slip—looked like, dear God, accounting—and dropped the packet on the table. “I’m on an important call. Give me fifteen minutes and then you can catch me up.”

“Yes, sir.” Cody closed the door behind him as he left.

The office, like Harlen’s new suits, was a necessary evil. No matter how tailored the fit, working at a desk just wasn’t him. But he figured he could handle the politics and negotiate with Fleight since Sera had managed to get his parents out of harm’s way.

Sera never ceased to amaze him. They’d talked about contingencies, but not outright assassination. There’d been no time between his appointment and the hearing to anticipate the implications of his position. Or rather,
he’d
had no time. Sera had clearly considered everything, and because of her, all the knots in his neck had released.

The acute worry about his family had subsided, and underneath was grief for the loss of Allison Bright. It was a gritty feeling of waste and anger. He’d liked her a lot, and he’d respected her. She’d been a good soldier and had stood against the rise of the Oneiros even when she’d known she was surrounded, when she’d known there was no hope of success.

“Marshal Fawkes.” Senator Fleight and her helmet hair blinked suddenly onto his screen. Her lips were drawn in a straight line. “Thank you for getting back to me so quickly, especially with this morning’s tragedy. Director Bright will be remembered as a pioneer in shared dreaming, dedicated to making the dreamwaters safe. I think we both know that the Oneiros is behind her death and that others are hidden within Chimera. I urge you to increase your own security as you continue to do this most urgent and dangerous work.”

Very pretty speech. Harlen didn’t know if there was any political doublespeak in it, so he took her words at face value. “Thank you. Director Bright will be missed. And I’ll make sure to be careful, as well. The Oneiros will be brought to justice.”

“To that end,” she said, “don’t you agree it’s time that you take my suggestion and proxy one of its members? Find out what they know and what their next moves are going to be?”

Neat segue but Harlen would not be discussing his division’s next moves with her, nor taking direction
from
her. He leaped over the argument and got to the heart of her desire. “I take it your contractor failed to bring in Lambert and Blackman.”

She leaned in. “You were supposed to have assisted him.”

“No, I wasn’t. And I won’t. Your daughter’s death occurred in the waking world; therefore, waking world law enforcement must pursue the suspects. I never thought the contractor was a good idea.”

He wouldn’t be sorry for her contractor; the asshole had attacked and used a jump on Sera. His body could wither wherever he slept.

Senator Fleight stretched her thin lips. “Naturally, I have the waking world covered, as well. You’ll be pleased to know we are closing in on them now.”

Harlen prickled with sweat. “Oh?”

“Mirren just left with the child. Put the little nightmare boy in a stroller. The perversion of innocence disgusts me.”

The child was Mirren’s three-year-old son, David. And what about Maisie, who was staying with them? Maze City could not be jeopardized.

Harlen took a deep breath. “Be very careful, senator. You’d do better to watch and wait. Mirren Lambert has the ability to confound senses in the waking world, and Vincent Blackman is extremely volatile. We don’t know what he’s capable of.”

We
, Harlen had said, hoping that she might listen. He needed time to warn them again.

“They’re capable of murder,” the senator shot back. “And now, so am I.”

The screen went black, the senator’s threat ringing in his ears like a fire alarm stirring him to action.

And yet…why did he feel as if
he
was the one being watched?

Or rather…
baited
.

Instead of reaching for a burner phone, he reached for the packet of accounting. His heart raced, thinking of what he risked should his friends be captured, but he opened the top folder, trained his gaze on the page, and parsed the situation.

Senator Fleight had asked for his help yesterday, and instead she’d lost her lead, her contractor MIA. Maybe she was suspicious. Maybe she
hadn’t
found Vince and Mirren but she was watching to see if Harlen would act. If he could be trusted. If
he
was Oneiros.

And anyway…he’d
already
warned Vince, who would’ve warned Mirren and Maisie. All three were smart and would extend their precautions from Darkside to the waking world.

Tracing a finger down a column of numbers, he swallowed hard and forced himself to take even breaths. This was
exactly
how Bright had felt, day in, day out. Watched. Play-acting. Uncertain.

The urge to warn them was almost irresistible. Maybe he could get someone else to warn them. Sera? Or what about Rook? Yes, when Harlen went to the beach house this evening, he’d tell Rook.