Deadly Weakness (Gray Spear Society) (22 page)

There was a knock on the door. Odelia let in a maid wearing a blue uniform and a cute little hat. The maid carried a plastic box of cleaning supplies. She stared at the unconscious bodies with an alarmed expression. Marina rushed over and gave her some venom. The maid's body was laid gently by the others.

"Odelia," Marina said, "take her clothes."

Odelia quickly stripped the maid and put on the uniform.

"How do I look?" She turned around.

"Adorable," Marina said. "Go scout around. We'll wait here."

Odelia nodded, grabbed the cleaning supplies, and left the room.

Smythe appeared anxious.

"She'll be all right," Marina said. "A pretty girl like her can get out of trouble with just a smile."

He nodded and sighed.

"You really love her, don't you?"

"Hopelessly." His shoulders sagged.

She shook her head. "That's so tragic."

"I don't agree. How often do you find true love? It's worth it, even if it's only for a weekend."

"You may not feel the same way on Monday. Just don't start drinking to drown your sorrows. That's such a cliché."

Marina turned to Jermaine. His gift allowed him to choose any skin color he wanted, but when he was with friends, he went to pure black. It looked like he had been dipped in black ink.

"I'm curious," Marina said. "How did you get your gift?"

He smiled, and his teeth were white against a black background. "Lasers, if you can believe it. We were on a boat in the harbor, and the enemy was shooting giant lasers from the top of a lighthouse. The boat was already on fire and the water was full of ice. It was the dead of winter. We had three choices: stay on the boat and burn, freeze in the water, or use the life raft and become an easy target. We thought we were done."

"God gave you a fourth option?"

He nodded. "I stood in the open and let them shoot at me. I bounced the lasers straight back with my skin. It warmed me up. We used the life raft to get over to the lighthouse and finish the job."

"What's your background?" she asked. "Do you have a history of working with light?"

"Before I became a Spear, I was an expert in solar power. I built homes that generated their own electricity. But that was just my day job. At night, I fought in illegal prize fights."

"Interesting."

They waited in silence for a while. Eventually, Odelia returned to the room.

"Seventh floor," she reported. "There are two guards by the elevator. They wouldn't even let me walk out. They were extremely rude."

"How are they dressed?" Marina said.

"Green Army fatigues, vests, helmets, and M16's. I didn't see any other guards from the elevator. The hallway was clear."

Marina nodded. "Smythe and Jermaine, try to match those costumes."

The men pawed through the piles until they found the right equipment.

When they looked ready, Marina said, "Attention!"

They snapped to attention with their rifles held in the proper positions. She inspected them like a real officer would. Jermaine had switched his skin to a medium brown.

"A half-shade lighter," Marina said.

His skin instantly changed its color.

"Perfect," she said. "Let's go upstairs."

The team went out to the hallway. A laundry cart was there with a short stack of towels on it. A big blue sack hung from a heavy rail.

"I found this," Odelia said. "We can use it to get Hanley out."

"Good thinking," Marina said.

They walked to an elevator at the end of the hall. Odelia pushed the laundry cart. Marina pressed the button.

"Relieve the guards and take their place," she told Smythe and Jermaine. "Try to convince them to go to their rooms. Tell them Race Hanley sent you. If they give you trouble, knock them out. We'll be up in five minutes."

The men took the elevator up.

When the two women were alone, Marina said, "Smythe feels pretty strongly about you."

"I feel the same about him," Odelia replied. "He's an amazing, wonderful man."

With her pure white hair and flawless skin, she had an otherworldly beauty that made Marina feel plain in comparison. Even Odelia's red-brown eyes looked attractive instead of strange.

"Come on. You two just met yesterday. You can't fall in love that fast."

"We were made for each other," Odelia said. "When we're healing, we're a perfect team."

Marina sighed. "He's a good friend of mine. I don't want to see him get hurt."

"What can we do?" Odelia shrugged. "We can't turn off our feelings."

After five minutes, they took the elevator up to the seventh floor. Smythe and Jermaine sat on either side of the elevator door.

"You convinced the guards to go peacefully?" Marina said.

Smythe nodded. "They were too tired to argue."

The hallway looked clear. She hurried down to the other end and peeked around a corner. Three alert guards were protecting one of the doors.
Hanley must be in there,
Marina thought.

She turned and found the rest of her small team directly behind her.

"They're expecting me," Marina whispered, "so we'll use the false prisoner tactic. Odelia, stay behind us. You're our backup."

"I'll flash them with my hands," Jermaine said. "Close your eyes or you'll be blinded."

Everybody nodded.

Jermaine and Smythe grabbed Marina roughly by the arms. They marched her down the hallway towards the guarded room. Odelia followed several paces behind with her laundry cart.

"We caught this woman trying to sneak in," Jermaine announced in his deep voice. "Wake up the chief. He'll want to talk to her right away."

Marina struggled to pull free, but her teammates had a very strong grip. She was sure she would get bruises on her arms. A realistic performance was sometimes necessarily painful.

"Let me go!" she whined. "Please!"

One of the real guards knocked on the door and said, "Sir! You should see this."

There was some noise in the room, and a moment later, the door opened. A man stepped out, blinking in the light. Marina recognized Hanley's face from a picture Leanna had sent.

He was in his thirties. His black curly hair was cut short, and he was clean shaven. His narrow eyes conveyed an intensity that appealed to Marina.

"I wasn't doing anything wrong," she said. "I got lost. Just let me go!"

Hanley leaned towards her. "Hey! I recognize your voice. You're the mysterious woman on the phone." He sneered. "Not so tough now, eh? We caught you."

Jermaine let go of Marina's arm and raised his hands.

"A hasty assumption." She closed her eyes.

The flash of white light was intense even through her eyelids. When she opened her eyes, she found Hanley and his three guards covering their faces with their hands. They were momentarily defenseless.

Marina hit the guard behind her with a mule kick to the jaw that turned him off like a light. Jermaine and Smythe simply punched the other two guards. Hanley started to back away but didn't get far. Marina chased him down and injected venom into his neck. She quickly gave a dose to all the guards to make sure they stayed down.

"This one too," Odelia said.

Marina looked down the hall. An old man had come out of the room next door, and Odelia had knocked him out. Marina gave him a shot of venom.

"I like your gift," Odelia said. "Very handy."

"Thanks, but yours is better," Marina said.

Jermaine and Smythe placed Hanley's body into the laundry cart bag. Everybody walked away.

Chapter Thirteen

Race Hanley opened his eyes. He was in a cozy little living room with a couch and some padded chairs. He was sitting on a wooden chair in the middle of the room, and he was tightly bound with nylon ropes. He couldn't move his arms and legs at all.

Four people were watching him closely. The first was the woman he had seen just before his abduction. She had strawberry blonde hair tied back in a long ponytail. Freckles on her nose made her appear girlish. Her jade colored eyes caught the soft light beautifully. She had long black fingernails, which were filed down to sharp points. Hanley didn't like the Goth touch.

The second person was a huge black man. His skin wasn't just dark. It was pure black. Hanley had never seen anything like it before. The woman standing next to him had a starkly contrasting appearance. Her hair was so white it looked like plastic, and her face was almost as pale. Her beauty was strange but hypnotic. She had red eyes that had to be the result of novelty contact lenses. The last person was a big man with rust colored hair and a broad jaw.

All four of Hanley's captors had the bodies of professional athletes, even the women. The men had chests as big as barrels. Hanley felt wimpy in comparison.

"Where am I?" Hanley said. "What am I doing here?"

"This is the meeting I promised," the woman with red hair said. "You're in one of our safe houses. Scream if you want. Nobody will hear you."

"All of you are with the Gray Spear Society?"

"Knowing that name isn't a good thing. It's one of the secrets we kill to protect."

He pulled on the ropes holding his arms. Whoever had tied him had done an expert job. "So, you're going to kill me?"

"Not yet," the woman said.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Try to relax. You're in no danger at the moment."

Hanley looked around again. The air was a little chilly. Plaid curtains were drawn across the windows, so he couldn't look outside. He saw a bathroom through an open door. An oil painting of an old man with a cane hung on the wall behind him.

All of Hanley's captors wore plenty of guns and knives openly. The red-haired woman had ten knives strapped to her wrists, ankles, and waist. Edged weapons seemed to be a fetish of hers. He wondered how sharp her fingernails were.

Hanley didn't see anything that might help him. He had no choice but to settle down and wait.

A short time later, the door opened and three more people entered. The first was a tall, muscular man with straight brown hair. Heavy eyebrows shaded his eyes. The second was a black woman in her fifties or sixties. Her hair was completely white. She was lean and moved with surprising quickness for a woman of her age. Last came a very tall man who was completely bald. The many veins under his skin were easy to see. He wore highly polished steel gauntlets with sharp spikes on the knuckles.

The black woman took a chair facing Hanley. Everybody else remained standing.

She had two machetes strapped to her back. She took them out of their scabbards and placed them on the padded arms of her chair. The weapons gleamed like pure silver.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Ethel. Did Xavier mention my name to you?"

Hanley nodded. "You're the top boss."

"My formal title is
legatus legionis
of North America. I'm responsible for the whole continent. Everybody else here works for me. As long as we're making introductions, Aaron is the commander of Chicago." She nodded towards the brown-haired man beside her. "And the very tall fellow behind me is Guthrum, my bodyguard."

"Who is she?" Hanley looked at the woman with red hair.

"Marina," Ethel said. "She works for Aaron. That's enough names for now. Aaron, tell everybody about our friend here."

Aaron was holding a thick sheaf of papers. He walked over to a lamp and started reading, "Race Stanford Hanley, age thirty-three. Married for fifteen years to Peggy Hanley. They live in Clinton, Maryland. Parents are Ralph and Mary Hanley, who live in Ocean City, New Jersey."

"Hey!" Hanley said. "Are you trying to intimidate me by threatening my family?"

"No. I'm simply presenting information as ordered. When we get to the threats, it will be obvious. To continue, Mr. Hanley served in the United States Navy for twelve years. His service record is distinguished and impeccable. The last five years were spent in the Navy Seals. He rose to the rank of lieutenant before being discharged because of a debilitating injury. He was awarded the purple heart."

Hanley sighed with impatience. When would they get to the point?

He looked over at Ethel's silver machetes. They were beautiful weapons but too ostentatious for his taste. Obviously, they were intended to intimidate her underlings.

"Do you know how to use those?" Hanley nodded towards the machetes.

She moved faster than his eyes could follow. Suddenly, she was across the room with a machete in hand. The sharp edge was pressed against his neck.

"I'm highly skilled," she whispered.

He was so startled his whole body jerked. He looked into her dark eyes and saw twin pools of blackness that seemed to stretch into infinity. They weren't human eyes. Only a real monster could have eyes like that.

She went back to her chair as quickly as she had left it. He couldn't believe what he had seen.