Guild of Truth 02 - Shield from the Heart (32 page)

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch, Mr. Haskell. The laptop for the journal. But I’d like to point out that I’m taking a lot on faith here that there will be useful information for me in this journal. If you’ve lied to me again, your death will be a slow and painful one, that I can guarantee.”

“Your threats don’t scare me, Vander. There’s information you want in here. Swing by my apartment in two days’ time and you’ll get your trade. I trust you remember where I live.”

“I do.”

“Good. And by the way, Vander, her name is Deborah.”

He hung up the phone and dug out the attached phone book for the closest hotel. There was no way he could return to his apartment. He couldn’t trust Vander. He’d probably sic Jente on him in the middle of the night to slit his throat and take the journal. There’d be less hassle that way. That’s what Merrick would do if he were an evil and power hungry millionaire.

Merrick waved down the cab he’d called to take him to his apartment. As the taxi pulled up to the curb he got a good look at himself in the window. Dark circles under his eyes, pale skin, sunken cheeks. If possible he looked worse than he did when he’d first escaped Vander.

He blamed it on his horrible sleeping pattern. He’d barely been able to sleep for the past two days. His thoughts kept circling unbidden to Sydney. Every time he’d dreamed, it was of her face, her body …

He’d wake up with a raging hard-on and a fierce aching in his chest that refused to leave him.

Was this what he was to endure for the rest of his life?

He hoped Sydney was suffering as much as he was, but as soon as the thought left him he instantly regretted it. Even now he wanted no harm to come to her.

He swore under his breath and wrenched the car door open. He barked his address to the driver and sulked in the back, already feeling on edge. He’d thought finding his Mirror Mate would be a blessing, not a curse.

I guess that’s what happens when your Mirror Mate doesn’t want you.

And to think he thought himself in love with her.

His stomach twisted painfully. He rolled down the window to get some air.

“Are you all right?” the driver asked him. “You look a little green. Do you need me to pull over? I don’t want you puking in my car.”

“I’ll be fine,” Merrick growled at him. “Just drive.”

He clutched the edges of his seat. No wonder this was so hard for him. He was in love with Sydney. The realization was worse than being kicked in the gut.

You’re pathetic. Weak. The whole thing was an act and you went and fell in love with the woman. It serves you right.

He leaned forward in his seat and rested his head in his hands. He fisted his hair — wanted to pull it from his head. Damn her. Damn her whole guild for making him feel anything for them.

It was his time back at the station all over again.

Not for long,
he thought darkly.

He straightened and glanced down at the journal next to him. In a few short minutes his mind would be occupied with finding Alyssa. He’d be back to what was really important in his life. He had no reason to be invested in stopping Vander. He wasn’t a member of the Guild of Truth. He scoffed at the title. Truth … yeah, right. As long as he was left alone with the Kratos resources at his fingertips, he didn’t care what the Guild of Truth did.

Yes you do. Don’t lie to yourself. You’re not that heartless of a person.

Yes he was.

If you were, then you would’ve given Vander the journal yesterday, not today when —

“We’re here,” the cab driver said bluntly.

Merrick snatched the journal and flung money at the driver, uncaring when he started shouting obscenities at him.

He didn’t see any suspicious vehicles parked outside his apartment building but he could sense that he was being watched. “Come and get it, Vander,” he mumbled and took his stairs two at a time.

There were no intruders inside his apartment and he hastily changed into a pair of clean clothes. As soon as he stepped out of his bedroom there came a knock on his door. Short and clipped. A business knock. Vander.

He tucked the journal into the back waistband of his pants and tugged his shirt to cover it.

Vander was waiting on the other side of the door, along with Regina, Dennis, and the nameless pain inflictor. Merrick didn’t step back to let them in. “Those three stay out here,” he told Vander plainly.

Vander inclined his head. “If that is what you wish.”

Merrick stepped back.

Vander strolled into his home, a fancy cane held in one hand. There was a slight limp to his gait and Merrick smirked. He wondered if Felix or Cali had been the one to give it to him.

He slammed the door in Regina’s face and turned to Vander. “Body’s a little more fragile these days, huh?”

Vander leaned heavily on his cane. “I’m afraid old age just doesn’t agree with me. Now, where is the journal?”

“Where’s my laptop?” It hadn’t escaped him that Vander wasn’t carrying any kind of backpack.

Vander smiled and gave a careless shrug. “You’ll get your laptop after you give me the journal. Regina has it out in the hall.”

“Bullshit.” Merrick ripped open his door.

Regina and her two partners still stood there in formation. Dennis handed her a black bag that she held up to him. It was the right size but when he went to reach for it she pulled it back.

“We had a deal, Mr. Haskell,” Vander said from behind him.

He turned so neither party was at his back. “How do I know that bag has a laptop in it and not a collection of rocks?”

“Very paranoid, aren’t you?” said Vander.

“I like to think of it as being careful.”

Vander nodded to Regina and she zipped open the bag, exposing a shiny new laptop. Vander held his hand out and she carefully handed it over.

He limped back into Merrick’s apartment.

Merrick slammed the door in Regina’s face. He’d never get tired of that.

Vander set the bag on the coffee table and remained standing. “You have your prize, now where is mine?”

Merrick lifted up the tail end of his shirt and pulled out the notebook.

Vander smirked. “How very like a cop you are.”

Merrick shrugged. “Some habits are hard to kick.”

Vander came forward and gingerly took the journal. “I know the feeling,” he said before latching on to Merrick’s exposed forearm.

A mad gleam came to Vander’s eye, a gleam that Merrick knew all too well, but it was too late. Pain ripped through him as Vander stole his life energy into himself. Vander moaned. Merrick’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor.

• • •

Sydney brought her phone up to her ear.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“I-I’d like to report a break-in.” She forced shakiness into her voice. A few seconds later she hung up and pulled her bag of goodies into her lap. She readied three syringes and slung the strap over her head as she made her way across the street to Merrick’s apartment. For the past two days she’d been staked out. She’d refused to let him go without a fight, without explaining that what he’d heard had been out of context. After the first night, she’d seen Regina scouting out the place so she’d gone back to her clinic and picked up a few supplies. It was obvious that Vander was still after Merrick.

Now he was trapped in his apartment with Vander and the trio from San Francisco. She’d be damned if she let them get the better of Merrick. As she climbed the stairs to Merrick’s apartment she pulled out a bottle of Felix’s cologne and sprayed herself.

No need to give Regina a heads up.

She spied the backs of their legs first. She readied her syringes, her heartbeat hammering in her chest.

You can do this.

She crawled up the stairs slowly, hoping Regina wouldn’t notice her smell coming up behind her. She’d only wanted to disguise her scent so Regina wouldn’t identify her. She was tempted to use her powers but if she used her Shield then that would give her away faster than her scent.

Her plan was working as she reached the top of the stairs. Regina didn’t even turn. A moan and a grunt came from inside and all her fear vanished as her concern for Merrick overtook her.

“Looks like Vander made his move.” Regina went to open the door.

Sydney sprang. She got both men in the thigh and shoved the plunger down without mercy. Both men screamed like little girls.

Regina whirled, Merrick’s apartment door swung open, forgotten. “You.” Regina’s eyes glittered with hate.

“Me.” Sydney charged. She was out for blood.

Regina tried to duck but there was nowhere to go. Sydney crashed into her and they fell into Merrick’s home, Sydney on top. She held her syringe in both hands, struggling to push it into Regina’s chest.

Regina’s face was bright red with exertion as she held Sydney off. Both their arms where quaking with the effort. “You bitch,” Regina ground out. “If you inject that into my heart, you’ll kill me.”

“I’m a vet, you fucking moron. I know dosages — and how do you know I don’t want you dead?”

For the first time Sydney saw true fear in Regina’s eyes.

Sydney gained a few inches. She was so close.

Regina was starting to sweat.

Sydney could see her victory. She just had to find Merrick —

She looked up.

Big mistake.

Vander hovered over her Mirror Mate like a giant spider sucking the life out of its prey.

“Merrick!”

She threw up her Shield. Regina took advantage of her distraction and flipped Sydney over her head.

She landed with a grunt. Pain exploded in her chest as air was forcefully expelled from her lungs.

Numbly she flexed her fingers and found the syringe still within her grasp.

Regina lunged for her.

Sydney rolled. Not far enough.

Regina landed on her back and grasped her hair. She drove her face into the hard floor.

Sydney cried out. She threw her arm back and stabbed Regina right in her trapezius. She screamed.

Sydney shoved the plunger down. Regina threw her face back into the floor and Sydney lost her grip on the syringe. Her vision wavered in and out. The back of her neck tingled then stopped.

No. Must protect Merrick.

She forced her Shield back up and threw her head back with everything she had.

A sickening crunch met her ears and Regina groaned in pain.

Something hot and sticky drenched the back of Sydney’s neck and shirt and copper tinged the air.

Blood.

Sydney rolled and Regina fell like a rag doll onto the floor next to her, the needle still sticking out near her neck.

Despite her dizziness, Sydney plucked the needle out and got to her feet. The world spun but she forced herself to focus. Vander was nowhere in sight.

Sydney ground her teeth but there was nothing else to be done. She ran to Merrick’s side.

“Merrick.” She cradled his head.

His eyelids fluttered open. “Syd?”

She kissed him. “Are you all right? Can you stand?”

She helped him into a sitting position and got him onto the couch. “I should be okay in a few minutes,” he said. “That fucker tried to kill me.”

“Vander has a nasty habit of doing that,” she said dryly.

“Sydney, what the hell are you doing here?”

“You mean besides saving your life? I’ve been staking out your house for the past couple days. There’s something I have to tell you, something I think you need to hear in proper context. But right now I have to take care of something.” She left his side.

“Where are you going?”

She grasped Regina under the armpits and heaved. “I have to stage a break-in one floor down.”

Despite Merrick being weakened by Vander he helped Sydney break into an unsuspecting neighbor’s apartment where they threw Regina, Dennis, and their buddy inside.

Sydney could already hear the sirens and dashed back up the stairs with Merrick to hide in his room. “I need to shower in case they come asking questions,” she said.

And ask questions the police did.

Dressed in nothing but a robe with wet hair, Sydney stood by Merrick’s side in his doorway as they explained the commotion they’d heard downstairs.

“And you didn’t report it?” the officer asked.

“No sir,” said Merrick, his arm wrapped around Sydney’s shoulders. To the officer it would look like a sign of affection but Sydney knew that if it weren’t for her, Merrick would be swaying on his feet.

The officer made a few more notes. “And what happened to your face, miss?”

Sydney’s hand instantly went to her face. It throbbed from Regina’s abuse but she’d hoped the heat from the shower and the flush on her face would cover it up. But it looked like their officer was a little more perceptive than she’d anticipated. She quickly sought out an excuse.

“When I heard the sirens and then the pounding of footsteps downstairs, I was given quite the fright. I slipped in the shower and bashed my poor money maker into the tile.” She used her best bubbly voice to convey that she was an accident prone bimbo.

It worked.

“Very well, thank you for your time.”

Merrick shut the door and they turned around to both stare at the large blood stain on his floor.

“Good thing he didn’t want to be invited in,” Sydney said as she helped Merrick over to the couch. “I’ll clean that up right away.”

Merrick remained eerily silent the entire time she cleaned. By the time she finished her whole body was on edge. She could feel the tension building in the room.

She drained the last of the water down the sink and nearly jumped out of her skin when Merrick’s voice spoke right in her ear. “What are you doing here, Sydney?”

The bucket clattered in the sink as she spun on him.

His face was dark and haggard. He looked horrible. Vander’s attack on him didn’t help either. Anger simmered in his ice blue eyes, but there was also a flicker of vulnerability. A spark of feeble hope.

Her heart lurched.

“Why did you leave Felix’s that day?” She needed to know what he’d heard, what he was feeling, and deal with it accordingly.

He crossed his arms. “I had my reasons.”