Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (7 page)

Wheeling up to the bike rack, she dismounted and hauled the bike in, securing it. A quick scan of the nearly deserted lot showed no sign of the Hunters in the vicinity. “Good, maybe I’m still one step ahead of them.”

Jessica stretched her injured leg a moment before she crossed the two lanes of disabled parking that separated the bike rack from the door and entered the mall.
Too many people.
Her skin crawled with their nearness.
There shouldn’t be that many here yet. We only opened a half hour ago.
She kept her face turned away from the people she passed, hitched her backpack higher up her shoulder, and worked to avoid the familiar faces. Her regular shift started later in the day, so an early sighting could cause questions.

The effort it took to keep her mind from wandering sapped her already tested energy reserves. She slid around a knot of window admirers and entered the food court, the far end of which housed the location of the nearest ATM. Her stomach growled aggressively at the scents of cooking food, and Jessica had to pause, grinding her teeth at the sudden nausea that accompanied the hunger pains. She looked across the gauntlet of food venders and saw the machine she needed.

Averting her face from the food handlers who knew her by sight, she walked over to the ATM and breathed a shaky sigh of relief for making it this far. Going through the motions, she punched in her pin number.

“I’m sorry, access to this account has been denied. Please try again later,” The screen stated, refusing the transaction.

Jessica stared at the machine. It wouldn’t recognize her.
But I have money.
Her card popped back out, and her sluggish mind tried to work through what had just happened.
I have money, I don’t…

Crap, they got here first. That’s the only explanation. Now what am I going to do? I need money.

Dismayed and in shock, she looked furtively at the people around her for any sign one of them might be part of a recovery team. She stuffed her card and wallet back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Her focus narrowed. She was prey. And now the Hunters would have a fix on her.
I have to get out of here. They’ve shut my account down. They have to know I’ve tried to access it.
Her heart beat heavily in her throat as she retraced her steps to retrieve her bike. Hyper aware of every person she passed.

She reached the glass wall of doors and had already pushed one open when she looked out across the concrete and stopped cold. Surrounding her bike were the two Hunters who had pursued her last night, along with at least eight other people. More men with radios converged on them from different parts of the parking lot.

“Crap,” she muttered under her breath. “This really is turning out to not be my day, isn’t it?”
There goes my bike, damn it. Why did May have to take the car this week?

Letting the door swing shut, she turned and ran back into the mall, not caring anymore if she was noticed.
Ok, what’s the best way out of here? Can’t hide in any of the stores, they’ll sniff me out. There’s no doubt those two Hunters have my scent. They have enough people with them to close off all the exits. I need to get out an unwatched door.
Racing back through the food court, she ran out the doors on the other side and stopped abruptly on the sidewalk.
If I only knew how to hot-wire a car.
She stared longingly at all the locked vehicles.
I need transportation; I can’t outrun them here. It’s too open. If those two take to the air, I’m toast.
Hoping for some means of escape, she grinned when a bus pulled up.
Perfect. That will work nicely.

Fidgeting, she waited impatiently for the passengers to disembark and tried not to look around too much and draw attention to herself. Once clear, she climbed the steps and reached a hand into her pants pocket, pulling out the last of her change. With only the slightest hesitation, she dropped it in the meter. She flashed a tentative smile at the driver then moved to a seat in the back and hunched down.

Come on, bus, get a move on before they think to stop you
.

“I’d bet anything that’s it, Nickolas,” Flynn said.

The van cruised to a stop next to a bicycle rack and Nickolas jumped out. He examined the bicycle chained to the bars. “I think you’re right, Flynn.” He started to run his hand over the metal but jerked away as if it burned him, blinking at the flash of vision that wasn’t his own. Christoff joined him and cocked his head, raising an eyebrow at the odd movement. Nickolas blanked his eyes to hide his confusion.

His brother shrugged and knelt down near the bicycle. “Her scent is definitely on it. Do you want me to do an aerial search?”

Nickolas scanned the pedestrians in the parking lot and shook his head. “No, hold off a minute. Here comes Beta team.” The door to the van opened and Jules stuck his head out as the newcomers arrived.

“Nick, command reports that someone just tried to access Miss Reuther’s bank account from an ATM inside the mall.”

A jolt of excitement shot through him and Nickolas smiled as he turned to Everett, the Beta team’s leader.

“We got the same call, Nick.” Everett looked at his team. “We left Epsilon, Theta, and Gamma on the other side of the mall.”

“Good. Everett, you coordinate with them and make sure all exits are controlled. You have her picture, but don’t make contact unless there’s no other choice. Radio me as soon as she’s located. Delta, you’re with us. We search the interior. Let’s go flush the quarry.”

They crossed the last bit of parking lot and swept into the mall, pausing just inside the entrance. Nickolas watched Beta team secure the doors then turned to the leader of Delta. “Danny, take your team and search the north side of the complex, we’ll take the south.”

Nodding, Danny led his people off at a brisk pace, taking a left at the main corridor. “Flynn, you and Jules start here. Chris and I will go find the ATM she tried to use.”

“Right,” Flynn said. The two quickly disappeared into the nearest shop.

Nickolas paced down the corridor with Christoff. He regulated his breathing, letting the fear the shoppers projected pass through him. His brother was already suspicious. He didn’t need Chris gaining more ammo from his reactions and then feel the need to inform Ian. This recovery mission kept throwing surprises in his path.
I have to figure out what is going on. Why am I suddenly having outside feelings shoved down my throat? And what does Jessica Reuther have to do with it?

He strengthened his stride and focused on trying not to show his internal struggle. So he looked for a distraction.

“You know, Chris? I really hate feeling like a leper. Look at them recoil from us. It’s not like we’re going to eat them or something.”

“They recognize a recovery team, that’s all, Nick. And when two Hunters are obviously involved, they really don’t want to get in the way. It scares them, not knowing who we’ve come for. Not knowing if they’ll be next.”

“I know.” He sighed, scanning the crowd. “But I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the fear, the avoidance.” He ignored the hushed conversations around him. The tide of humanity parted before the two Valkyries. They walked into the food court atrium, side by side. Across the room, Nickolas spotted the ATM next to the doors. “There it is. I’ll go check it out. You take her picture around to the vendors.”

“Right, sounds good.”

He dismissed Chris from his thoughts, his attention immediately zeroing in on the cash machine. A tight knot formed in his gut as he crossed the atrium.

He stared at the ATM. A pattern of events settled in his mind. Each time the visions had come upon him unawares. This time he knew he courted them.

He really didn’t want to touch the ATM. He braced himself then slowly reached out and placed his palm on the keypad of the machine. Similar to the episode in her bedroom, only not nearly as strong, he received a wave of feeling. His fingers smoothed over the keys.

The spike of fear was first.
That must be when she realized we’d closed down access to her accounts.
This time Nickolas made an attempt to control what he received. Closing his eyes, he concentrated and was rewarded with a jumbled vision to supplement the wash of feelings. Opening his eyes, Nickolas removed his hand. “Well that didn’t help much.”

“What didn’t help?” Christoff asked as he walked up. “I believe this is the only ATM in the mall, so it has to be the one she used. The food vendors I showed her picture to all recognized her of course, since she works here, but none of them had seen her today.”

“Oh she was definitely here. Just not long enough for me to get a fix on where she went after trying to get money out of the machine. Why don’t we show her picture some more and ask the shopkeepers between here and the door where her bike was parked.”

“Tracing her scent from such a brief encounter was chancy at best, you know that, Nick.”

Nickolas shrugged his shoulders and started to walk back the way they’d come. He caught Christoff’s shrewd gaze assessing him. His eyes full of questions that Nickolas didn’t want to deal with.
I guess I didn’t hide it as well as I’d hoped. 

The arrival of Flynn and Jules served as a good distraction. He waved them over and said quietly to his brother, “I’ll find out what they’ve discovered, Chris. You start with the vendors on the aisle. I’ll catch up.”

Irritation poured off Christoff. Refusal formed in his eyes and Nickolas sighed. “Go, Chris.”

Christoff’s wings flared, but he turned without a word to go attend the task given to him.

I’m not going to be able to hold him off.
Nickolas closed his eyes, then blanking his expression, he turned to greet the other two members of his team.

“So? Any sign?”

“Nothing yet, Nickolas. Nobody remembers seeing her today. And she isn’t hiding out in any of the stores we checked either. Though maybe your better nose could sniff her out?”

“Not likely, Flynn. We may have a better sense of smell, but the trail is thin here and there are a lot of other people around.”

“Nick,” Christoff snapped. ”Over here.”

Nickolas felt a growl form in his throat, but he suppressed it. Instead, they all walked over to where Christoff stood next to a man who sold baseball caps from a free-standing stall.

“Yeah, I saw her,” The man said when Nickolas and the others arrived. “Bright red shoes caught my eye, besides I thought she was pretty hot.” He flushed and looked away briefly. “All that hair, wow. Anyway, she walked over to the teller down there, did her thing, and then walked back past me. When she got to the doors,” he jerked his chin at the entrance nearest the bike rack, “she just stood in the open door for a moment before turning around and running across the mall like all the hounds of hell were after her. Which, I guess they are.” The man cleared his throat nervously when Nickolas narrowed his eyes at him and Christoff growled low in his throat. “Well, she ran out the far entrance nearest the food court. Then you guys came in.”

“Nick, I saw a bus through the glass leaving just as the door was secured,” Jules said.

“That pretty girl is regressing, just like you guys?” The man asked tactlessly. “What a shame.”

A savage growl erupted from his brother a second before Christoff slammed his hands down on the counter of the kiosk to lean in toward the man. “You should watch it. You might be next. You never know.” The Hunter growled into the man’s pale face.

“Christoff!” Flynn snapped.

Nickolas placed a restraining hand on his brother’s tense arm and spoke quietly, “Not now, Chris. Leash it. All right, Jules get me the bus routes. I want that bus stopped and searched. Flynn, coordinate with the other teams, I need a group in here to finish the search. Just because we think she left, we shouldn’t leave it to chance that she hasn’t circled back.” Flynn and Jules ran off, and Nickolas turned back to the vendor, giving the man a cold stare. “Beware what you say to a Hunter. For you might live to become one. Thank you for your help.”

Nickolas tugged on Christoff’s arm, pulling him away from the frightened vendor, giving his brother a growl of his own when he resisted briefly. “You feeling ok, Chris?”

“Yes, just a little irritable. Sorry,” His brother replied curtly.

When they reached the van, Jules popped out. “Hey, boss, the bus route was sixteen. Gamma team is on its way to stop it now.”