Night Beyond The Night (13 page)

Their eyes met and Elliott swore he saw a light rose tinge her cheeks and she looked away. His lips twitched in a little smile. No wonder she’d asked him to take his shirt off right away.

“That’s why I believed we could trust you. I saw Elliott after the battle with the
gangas
, after they’d torn your shirt off.” Jade looked at him sidewise. “The Strangers breed and control the
gangas
, so they’d never want or need to fight them.”

“The
gangas
are their mercenary army. Strong, easily controlled, and dispensable. If not dumb as rocks,” Lou put in. “Like the Orcs, from
The Lord of the Rings
.”

“They’re too dumb to be more than an inconvenience,” Fence said.

“Unless you’re really outnumbered,” Wyatt added. “Then it might get hairy.”

Sage lifted an eyebrow, turning a frigid stare at them. “People are killed by
gangas
all the time
.
Don’t underestimate them.”

But Elliott’s thoughts had stayed on a different train of thought. “And how can you identify the shirtless Strangers? A marking on the skin? A missing navel? A third nipple?”

Christ. This sounded like . . . well, something out of a science fiction novel or a
Star Trek
episode. But he was fucking
living
a science fiction novel now . . . one that was getting more frightening by the moment.

“They have a stone embedded in their skin, right here,” Jade said, pulling the neckline of her shirt away to expose her delicate clavicle. Elliott was fairly sure he was the only guy in the room whose mouth went suddenly dry as he looked at the smooth, sexy hollow.

“There’s a little gem or crystal right here, in the soft part of the skin just below the collarbone,” Jade was saying, oblivious to Elliott’s inappropriate fascination. “Some of them have one on each side, some have just one. It’s what gives them their immortality and their power.”

She brushed the neckline of her shirt back into place and settled back in her chair.

Elliott drew in a steadying breath, thinking of all the information they’d obtained in the last day . . . hell, in the last thirty minutes. He found it impossible to assimilate it all: beachfront property where the Strip had been, lions and elephants roaming wild,
gangas
. . . and humanlike aliens with crystals in their skin. Aliens who were trying to control the human population, according to Lou and Theo.

Maybe Lou and his brother
were
crazy. Maybe it was that simple.

But Elliott hadn’t imagined the
gangas
. Nor had he imagined his double-edged sword of a superpower.

If
gangas
and superpowers were real, it was just as likely that these crystal-ridden aliens were too.

“So are you and Theo the only ones who think the Strangers are out to get us? From everything I’ve seen, the human race doesn’t look suppressed. It just looks as if it’s trying to recover from massive annihilation.” Wyatt was speaking

to Lou.
p. The elderly man looked grim. “The truth is, most people don’t think much about the Strangers, and if they do, they think of them as our friends and allies. Cohabitants of our world.”

“And they’re not?”

“No.” His answer was definitive and hard. “Most of them don’t see it, or haven’t experienced their evil. They’re afraid of the
gangas
, of course, but the Strangers look and act just like us. So they figure if they don’t bother the Strangers, the Strangers won’t bother them.”

“Wrong,” said Jade flatly. “Completely wrong.”

“But what do they
do
that’s such a threat?” Wyatt demanded. “We’ve been traveling around for six months and we’ve never run into any of them.”

“That you know of,” Sage added archly. “Anyone you met might have been sporting a crystal beneath their clothing.”

Jade spoke quietly. “They kidnap women and enslave them, for one.”

Elliott’s heart lurched.
Was that what had happened to her?

“They do experiments on humans. People disappear sometimes, taken by the Strangers. There are mass executions—that way no one is alive to tell the tale,” Jade continued. The room had fallen silent. “I witnessed one take place in a small settlement of fifty people. They locked them in a large, open building and set the
gangas
in on them. Even the children.”

“But everything they do is in secret,” Lou continued. “It can’t be attached to the Strangers, because then they would be in danger of us fighting back. And that’s what we do here, in this little room.” He said, gestured at the array of electronics. “This is the headquarters of the very secret, small but growing Resistance. Against the Strangers.

“Case in point—last night, Jade overheard a conversation between a tradesman here in Envy, and a Stranger.” He looked at her.

Jade’s eyes fastened on Elliott once again. “That’s really the reason you’re here. We hope you’ll help us—to join the Resistance and help us try and learn about the Strangers, and to help stop them from enslaving and killing humans.”

“Why us?” asked Simon, breaking his silence.

“Because you’re . . . different.”

That
was an understatement.

A quiet
ding
sounded, and Sage whirled her chair to face the closest computer screen. “It’s an email from Theo.”

“About damn time,” muttered Lou.

“It’s coming in under a new ID,” Sage said. “That’s weird.”

“Maybe he’s afraid someone found his old one,” Jade suggested. “Is everything all right?”

The sound of computer keys clicking filled the room as Lou and Jade rose to stand behind Sage. They looked at the screen over her shoulder, and the three of them must have read the email or seen whatever it was—
they couldn’t have email, could they?
—at the same time, for Elliott saw Lou’s shoulders draw back and tighten and Jade’s slump almost simultaneously, before turning from the computer screen.

They faced each other, and she squared her shoulders as if preparing for a fight. “I’ll go get the stuff for Theo. Greenside’s only a few hours from here and I’ll be back by nighttime. Besides, it’ll give me the chance to talk with Luke and see if he has any other news.”

“Jade, you just got back. The stuff in Greenside can wait until Theo gets there.”

“But what if something’s wrong with Theo? We haven’t heard from him in days, and now we’re hearing from him under a different account. It just feels like something’s wrong. Maybe he’s actually in Greenside himself—maybe that’s the important ‘data’ that he’s sending us to get. Maybe he’s injured. Maybe that’s why he’s communicating under a new ID.”

“Maybe, maybe, maybe,” Lou said. “He’s so damn brief sometimes. I wish he’d be more specific about why he didn’t make your meeting.”

“You know how he is. Short and to the point. He wouldn’t be sending messages if something was wrong. Anyway, you need to be here in case he checks in again.” Jade’s words sounded easy, but even Elliott, without knowing the situation, recognized a little bit of bullshit when he heard it.

“I’ll go with you,” Elliott said, leaning forward. As he moved, his shoulder screamed with pain and he nearly gasped at the shock.
What the hell?
It seemed to be getting worse.

The elderly man looked at him, and Elliott saw real fear in his eyes. “All right. You two go. Get the stuff from Luke that Theo thinks is so important, and get back here as soon as you can. I’m not liking this whole thing with Rob Nurmikko either, Jade. Something’s going on. You can fill Elliott in on what we know, and let’s hope the stuff Luke has is worth the trip.”

Elliott looked at Jade. “When do we leave?”

“As soon as you’re ready.”

That was when Elliott realized that he’d just signed up for a possibly dangerous mission with a gorgeous woman . . . that he couldn’t lay a finger on.

Just fucking great.

Three weeks After

Found Theo!

He was just where he should have been, in the subterranean backup room. Took two days to dig through by hand. He’s not dead, but was in sort of a coma. Woke him up with difficulty, but now that he’s awake, he seems fine.

Don’t want to do this without him.

Our number has grown to nearly a hundred here in what used to be New York–New York. And there are another hundred in the Mandalay hotel. More people arriving every day, but in trickles.

Have taken charge of getting the power working again. Still using generators, and some power still coming in from the station. Rowe and I discussed sending a group to Hoover Dam to see if that’s where it’s coming from. I suspect it is if the dam wasn’t destroyed. Remember from a TV show that it could run for a year without human intervention.

Maybe there are other survivors there too.

So we have some lights. Plugged in computer. No Internet. No cell phone.

The world beyond us is silent. But Theo’s here.

—from the journal of Lou Waxnicki

Elliott had learned how to compartmentalize his mind during the long, brain-sucking hours of his medical residency and four years working as an emergency physician, plus his volunteer time rebuilding the hospital in Haiti. He could block out emotions or thoughts while focusing on his current situation, saving them for later when he had the luxury to indulge.

He could put away the tragedy of a young boy who died from gunshot wounds before Elliott could even start the surgery that would save him, and focus on the next patient—a young woman, who needed her appendix out pronto—without letting it slow him down, or distract him.

The tragedy would come back to haunt him later, when he lay dry-eyeball-up, staring at the ceiling and trying to sleep. But for the time being, he could stash it away.

Which explained why, even after hearing all that Lou Waxnicki had told them that morning—which was only the tip of the iceberg of what they wanted and needed to know—Elliott was able to block the horror, the reality of it all, from his mind. At least for now. He’d get the answers to the infinite questions he had . . . but later. When he’d had time to let it settle.

Because . . . damn it.
Damn it
.

Even though he’d been traveling around for the last six months, he hadn’t fully accepted that this world was no more than what it seemed. These last few months had been an adventure, a journey. A nightmarish one. He was going to go home at the end of it, back to his normal life.

Only . . . he wasn’t.

Ever
.

He simply couldn’t imagine living here. How? Where? What would he do?

Would he ever feel at home again?

So he compartmentalized. He fought it back, afraid of what would happen if it overwhelmed him. If it took over. There’d be time to think about it later when he stared at the ceiling, or the starry sky, or the rotting timbers of the roof of a half-demolished building.

For now, he needed to pack a few things to take with him on this mission with Jade. And for some reason, that steadied him. Knowing he would be with her, even though their task was uncertain and could be dangerous.

It wasn’t because of the potential of them getting together.

But maybe it was. Maybe he needed to bury himself, his body, his
brain
, in something that promised to be good. Very good.

Elliott wrenched his thoughts away and yanked up his pack. A searing pain stopped him and he couldn’t contain a grimace. This was definitely getting worse.

Clamping his teeth down on a string of nasty words, he paused in front of the mirror in his room and noticed that his shirt was stained with blood streaks. An odd feeling tipped him off-balance as he peeled the cotton T-shirt—damn, that was the second one ruined in as many days—away from the sticky, oozing blood . . . and stared in horror at the deep gashes over his shoulder and arm.

Five deep gashes, wide and oozing dark red blood.

Simon’s chest had looked nothing like this when Elliott healed him only a few hours ago.

A sudden wave of uncertainty flooded him.

Would it heal? Or would it get worse and worse until he either died . . . or,
good God
. . . gave it to someone else?

What the hell was going on?

Jade splashed alongside Elliott, holding a torch that cast a generous circle of light in the creepy place. This was the part she hated, slogging through this slimy, dark passage. Waterweed and algae slicked the walls, and creatures that she preferred not to identify sleeked past in the knee-deep water. The ceiling rose in a low arc above their heads. Curtains of roots that had grown through the concrete and stone were festooned with spider webs, and seemed to constantly be brushing over her face and arms. Normally when she left Envy on a mission, she used the secret Wendy entrance. But there were times when the Tunnel was the only way to go, and they were in a hurry. And didn’t want to be noticed.

She hoped Vaughn wouldn’t come looking for her at Flo’s house.

And, oh God, she hoped Theo was okay. Sure, he’d checked in, sent that message to Lou—but it told them nothing about why he hadn’t been at his meeting place with Jade. And he was using a different ID. As if he were afraid someone was monitoring their communications.

All she could think of was him lying somewhere, injured, unable to move. What if he were outside and the
gangas
found him? Or worse, what if the Strangers or bounty hunters came upon him and discovered his equipment? All those electronics . . . they’d know something was going on. But that was silly. He’d tell them if something was wrong.

Theo’d been so vague—maybe that was why. He didn’t want to take any chances of the information being picked up. The problem was, their communication abilities were hit or miss, which was why Sage or Lou were nearly almost always on the computers. They couldn’t communicate remotely with Theo unless he was actually plugged into the network, which only happened occasionally and for brief spurts of time due to the dangers of the transmissions being intercepted, as well as the necessary energy to run the equipment.

Jade remembered suddenly that, in his previous communication, Theo indicated that he’d managed to find a physical access point into Chatter, which was what he and Lou called the communications system used by the Strangers and their bounty hunter allies. It would be just like him to be so engrossed in trying to hack into the system that he’d lost track of time and everything else. That made the most sense, now that she thought about it. And the tension that had begun to ride up into her shoulders eased. Theo was likely just being Theo.