Marked (30 page)

I
looked at the tablet next to Alec's bed, which was showing a risk
level of fifty percent, and then rubbed my eyes before responding to
Louis.

"Alec
isn't available to speak with you right now, Louis. Like he said when
he called you a couple of days ago, I'm fully up to speed on
everything that is going on, so you can tell me whatever it is and
I'll make sure Alec hears about it as soon as possible—assuming
I can't just take care of it myself."

"With
all due respect, Adri, you aren't Alec. I didn't swear fealty to you
and I don't have to take orders from you. You can hand me over to
Alec, or I'll hang up and maybe when he gets around to calling me
back I'll be in a position to pick up
his
phone call."

"If
you hang up on me you're going to be very, very sorry, Louis."

"Is
that a threat?"

"No,
it's a statement of fact. Alec told you to listen to me when the two
of you last talked. If you hang up on me after a direct order to tell
me what it is you called about, then you're effectively disobeying
Alec. He's not going to forget that kind of thing."

"That
sounds an awful lot like a threat to me, young lady, and it depends
solely on Alec being alive, which I don't think is the case, not
after some of the things I've been hearing lately."

I
forced myself to smile despite wanting to throw something through a
window. The tablet on the table was now showing a sixty percent risk
factor, which meant that Donovan's hackers were probably scrambling
one or both of the mercenary teams and turning on the other
communication suites.

"Thank
you, Louis, for pointing out that I've been too lax with you and the
others. From here on out you may address me as Mistress Paige or
ma'am. Alec Graves is very much alive and he's going to be very
unhappy at the course this conversation has taken. He and I both
thought that you were a man of your word, Louis."

"I
am!"

"Then
prove it. Either you're with us or you're against us. This is a
critical time and we need to know exactly who we can depend on for
the upcoming assault against the Coun'hij headquarters."

"You've
really found them?"

"Yes,
we have. Jasmin Bianchi traced them to a location in Tennessee before
she dropped out of sight. There is a good chance that they've moved
since then, but the simple fact that we've got them on the run will
tend to create opportunities for us."

"You
haven't really found them then."

"Louis,
if I say that we've found them, then we've found them. They may drop
out of sight for a little while, but we know how Jasmin did what she
did and it's entirely repeatable. That's why I asked you to be on the
lookout for Coun'hij enforcers who are operating in small enough
groups that you might have a chance of capturing one or more
hybrids."

"You
can't just be planning on torturing their location out of them. It's
been tried before—the enforcers have all bound their beasts to
not reveal the location of the Coun'hij's base. They'll die before
revealing anything useful to you."

"Louis,
I simply don't have the time it would take to tell every single one
of our people every aspect of Alec's plan. Our communications
equipment is holding together with the IT equivalent of spit and duct
tape. You're going to just have to trust us that we know what we're
doing. Get to your real reason for calling so I can get off the phone
and see to everything else that needs doing."

"There
are rumors going around that you're relocating that Del Rio
girl—Lori—to wherever you're headed…"

"I
suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the back channel information
flow is still healthy despite the fact that every call any of you
make puts you at risk."

"I'm
not going to let you dodge this question—that girl is
dangerous."

I
simply let the silence stretch out despite the fact that I could
still see the monitor slowly tracking up as the risk that the
Coun'hij would be able to localize us increased. As hard as it was to
waste some of my precious phone time, I wasn't the only one running
risks because of this call. Louis' signal was much more traceable
than mine and there was a limit to how long he could stay in one
place on the phone before he'd have to start worrying about a
Coun'hij kill team coming for him.

When
I finally broke the silence, I did so in a way that I hoped still
gave me the upper hand. "I don't think you phrased that question
the way you meant to phrase it, Louis. My patience is not infinite."

For
a second I thought he was going to refuse to cooperate, but
apparently I'd managed to be convincing enough with regards to the
threat of what would happen if indeed Alec was still alive.

"My…apologies,
ma'am. What I meant to ask was if the rumors were true, and if you
felt that you'd properly considered the danger the Del Rio girl
represents."

"Yes,
the rumors are true. Alec started the wheels moving to have Lori meet
us on the same day that he last called you. As to the second half of
your question, yes, Alec and I are both very aware of the fact that
Lori is dangerous. To be perfectly frank, she wouldn't be as useful
to us if she wasn't so dangerous."

"With
all due respect, ma'am, that's the kind of thing that is fueling the
rumors that Alec is dead and you've engineered some kind of
behind-the-scenes takeover."

"Is
it?"

"Yes,
people are saying that there wouldn't be any need for Alec to keep
Lori alive if he were really still in control. Alec is already a
near-perfect weapon, and with Jaclyn and Grayson to back him up, it
doesn't seem justifiable to bring in such a loose cannon."

"Louis,
I understand your concerns, but the next time someone calls you to
chew the fat, please remind them that when we go in after the
Coun'hij, we'll be up against Puppeteer and more than likely a whole
host of werewolves. Alec beat Puppeteer's forces at the estate
through a very fortuitous set of circumstances. As much as all of us
might hope that we'll be able to replicate that when we go in after
the rest of our enemies, it would be exceedingly foolish to count on
something so out of our control.

"Lori's
defense of our people in Nephi proved that she's got the potential to
be a powerful weapon. Neither Alec nor I are inclined to set aside
such a valuable tool—not considering the forces arrayed against
us. All weapons are dangerous, Louis, it's just a matter of knowing
what it is you're up against."

"Very,
well, ma'am. I'll be sure to pass that message along should the
opportunity arise."

"Thank
you, Louis. Be careful though. I don't want you to end up with a kill
squad in your lap. If you engage the Coun'hij's people I'd much
rather it be on your terms rather than theirs."

I
made my farewells to Louis as the monitor edged up to the seventy
percent risk range and then looked out the window to confirm that the
field we'd been traveling through for the last several hours had
given way to the suburbs.

Andrew
was waiting for me just outside of Alec's room. "Are you ready
to call it a night, Miss Adri?"

"I
wish, Andrew. Unfortunately I still have one more task to see to now
that we've arrived in Kansas City."

"Well,
I won't presume to tell you what to do, but do try not to let
yourself get too run down—it seems to me that the best leaders
are always the ones who make things look easy. You wouldn't want to
be exhausted if we ran into a real crisis."

"Thank
you for the words of advice, Andrew. I'll keep it in mind and try to
make sure that I get caught up on my sleep. You're okay to watch Alec
for me now?"

Andrew
nodded and motioned towards Dominic and Ruby, who had both headed our
direction as soon as I'd opened the bedroom door. "I've got a
new novel that I've been meaning to read for several months now, and
I think my trusty helpers are ready to move me inside. I'll be in
good shape to keep an eye on Alec for at least the next few hours."

I
smiled my thanks to Andrew and then made my way past him and the
girls, carefully working my way towards the front of the RV. Donovan
hadn't skimped on our transportation—it was a truly enormous
vehicle, but even so it was feeling cramped with so many people
living out of it.

Samantha
was unconscious, and Alec wasn't moving around at all, but that still
left six other people—plus whoever was driving—to try not
to step on each other's toes. I'd considered asking Donovan to pony
up the cash for a fourth RV, but I wasn't quite sure who I would move
into the new vehicle if I did so.

I
didn't particularly trust Ruby or Addison on their own, and I wanted
to keep Dom, James and Donovan close at hand in case I needed them
for something, which really only left Andrew and Samantha. I wasn't
going to move Alec's mom into another vehicle where something might
happen to her, and it didn't seem right to only kick Andrew out, not
after how helpful he'd been with Alec. Besides, there wasn't any way
to be sure that any of the rest of our people would properly take
care of him.

No,
we were all stuck together for at least the next little while. There
was nothing to do but make the best of it and hope that we would be
able to abandon our transient lifestyle before too much longer.

"Donovan,
are we really in Kansas City?"

"Yes,
Mistress Paige. Addison indicated that we're only a couple of minutes
away from the location where we're supposed to be meeting Lori."

"Thank
you, Donovan."

I
hadn't bothered hiding the handgun that I'd taken from Alec's
bedroom. There wouldn't have been any point, not given that everyone
else in the RV could smell it as soon as I'd opened the bedroom door.
Still, I slipped it into the front of my pants as I walked past
Donovan and stopped just behind Addison's seat. I was a lot more
careful to keep my hand free these days, especially when walking
around inside of a moving vehicle.

"I
think that's their vehicle right there, Miss Adri."

"Thank
you, Addison, I think you're right. Bring us alongside of them,
please. There's no need to find a parking spot—we're only
stopping for long enough to swap out passengers."

That
brought Donovan's head around. "Is that wise, Mistress Paige?"

"Probably
not, but I'm sure Tiffany has some tired ladies in that vehicle with
her, which means that they're all going to be even more on edge than
normal. Given that I need to talk to Lori, either she needs to come
here or I need to go there."

"Ah,
yes, I can see your quandary. It would not be wise to bring her
inside of our vehicle."

"Yeah,
my thoughts exactly. So I'll be riding with Lori and her guards for
the next little while. I'll want you all to keep a close eye on
whomever she sends back to take my spot here. Don't let them back to
see Alec, but we will hopefully win some points with them by offering
them a place to sleep and a few hours where they don't have to be in
a constant state of alert. I'll get a promise from them that they'll
obey you for as long as they are your guest—that should go a
long ways toward defusing any dominance posturing."

"Very
good, Mistress Paige. We'll do our best."

"I've
come to expect nothing less from all of you."

I
fidgeted with the front of my shirt, trying to make sure that it did
a decent job hiding my gun, and then Addison brought the RV to a
ponderous stop and it was time for me to disembark. Tiffany climbed
out of the passenger side of her vehicle and met me a couple of steps
from the RV.

"I
was starting to wonder if you were going to bother showing up after
all of the times you changed up the schedule."

"I'm
sorry about that, it couldn't be helped. I suspect that you've got
some very tired people in there with you. I'd like to ride into the
city with you, but if you'd like to detach one or two of your ladies
they are welcome to sleep inside my RV."

"With
all due respect, I'm not sure I want to be driving through a city
this size down two guards, not if you're their only replacement. One
human with a broken arm and a gun isn't going to be enough to stop
Lori if she decides to turn the city against us."

I
very carefully didn't look down at my left arm, which I'd taken to
carrying around in a sling because it seemed less unnerving to those
around me. "It's paralyzed, not broken, but maybe when this is
all over I'll sit down and tell you the story about how it got
paralyzed—I think it would change your mind about just how
capable I am."

I
watched as her nostrils flared. She could taste the truth of what I'd
said, but she was still having a hard time believing there wasn't
some kind of double-talk in my statement.

"Are
you really trying to tell me that you're a match for two experienced
hybrids?"

"That
all depends on the circumstances, Tiffany. Out in an open field with
nothing but my bare hands, I'm nothing more than a sitting duck, but
there are circumstances where it's entirely possible that I could
give your girls a run for their money. It's not like your people can
really utilize the full range of their abilities while sitting in a
vehicle like that—there's nowhere near enough space for you to
shift in there. The best you could hope to do is partially shift and
kill Lori with your claws."

"You're
not wrong, but you're leaving out the fact that we can move as fast
as Lori—you can't."

Tiffany's
hand shot forward as she tried to make her point, but I'd come down
the steps of the RV knowing there was a chance that I would be
dragged into exactly this kind of dominance posturing. She'd
seriously underestimated me. If she'd been in her hybrid form—or
even if she'd put everything she had into the blow in an attempt to
really hurt me—I would have barely seen the blow coming, but as
it was I was not only ready, I had the advantage.