Matt Archer: Bloodlines (Matt Archer #4) (25 page)

Dad stepped back from the monitors wearing a satisfied
smile. “Now
that
was an interrogation. Damn. We’ll have to have her go
back in there later.”

I gaped at him. He didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the
fact that Mamie had just done something that should be impossible. Will, Uncle
Mike and Johnson all had dumbfounded expressions on their faces, but not Dad.

Mamie stuck her head in the door. “We should talk, but I
need something to eat. Reading her burned a lot of calories.”

“
Reading
her?” Johnson mouthed, his eyes wide.

Numb, I followed the crowd back to the conference room,
where Dad called someone in the commissary to bring up a tray of sandwiches.

“Could we have some cookies?” Mamie asked, sounding so
innocent and sweet I could hardly believe she was the same person who shook
down Nocturna Maura’s most dangerous witch not five minutes ago.

“Anything you want, sweetheart,” Dad said before amending
the order to include a dozen chocolate chip cookies. Someone was a proud
father. Hell, I was proud, too. Mamie had handled Ann Smythe like a boss.

How
she did it was beyond me, though.

While we waited for the food to arrive, each of us took a
seat and stared at Mamie. She ignored us for the most part, scribbling down
some notes in a spiral she’d unearthed from her backpack. Since I was sitting
next to her, I could see diagrams of a few pentagrams mixed in with the notes.
One was white, with black lines and the single point on top. The other was
filled in with black, except for red lines, and the single point was on bottom.
If she’d freehanded those, she was a better artist than I gave her credit for.
They were perfectly symmetrical.

“Okay.” Mamie put down her pen. “A couple of things. First,
I probably should’ve warned you about all that.”

“About you being able to read a woman’s mind just by
grabbing her arm?” I asked. “Or the fact that you’re a total badass and none of
us ever caught on?”

Mamie’s smile was angelic. “Well, both. But more about the
‘reading’ thing. Trust me, I don’t do it very often, and your secrets are
completely safe with me.”

Everyone shifted uncomfortably and my sister chuckled.
“Relax. I’m kidding. Other than a few accidental readings, I never tried it on
someone on purpose before today. Really.”

A collective sigh of relief went around the room. Except
from me…and I shot her a horrified look. She bit her lip, trying to hide an
embarrassed smile. I didn’t want to know what she “saw” the day I touched her
arm in her dorm room, but I had a feeling it wasn’t something either of us
wanted her to know.

“Anyway,” Mamie said, blushing slightly. “The second
thing—and this is the important one—we’ve been misreading the pentagrams.
Montana and Australia aren’t on the points of the star at all. They represented
the middle…” She trailed off for a moment and twisted her pigtail around her
finger. “See, there were only ever two shamans. Ann Smythe…and me.”

Johnson nodded and murmured, “Told you so.”

“But what about Jorge and Dr. Burton-Hughes?” I asked. “What
about Zenka? The other side went to a lot of trouble to kill her and her
husband. How can they not be important?”

“I didn’t say they weren’t.” Mamie gave me a plaintive look.
“They’re the outer points of the center pentagon, just like the wielders are
the five points of the star. Each of the shamans had knowledge to help the
wielders. Some of them even have the Sight or special magic of their own, but
there were only ever two shamans matched against one another. Ann and I...we’re
at the center of it all.”

“So Ann was right,” Dad said. “We’ve been chasing the wrong
thing.”

“Yes and no.” Mamie shoved her glasses up her nose. “The
prime monsters—and the Shadow Man—have to be stopped. And it’s a wielder who
takes down the Shadow Man, not a shaman.”

“But what’s your part in all this, other than totally
vanquishing Ann Smythe with that mind meld you just did?” Will asked.

My sister stared at the table. “I…don’t know. Ann seemed to
know more about it than I did, but I couldn’t find the answer when I went
searching. She was so…terrified, that I could only grab fragments.”

The way she wouldn’t meet our eyes bothered me. Personally,
I thought Mamie
had
seen what Ann knew…and didn’t want to tell us. I
held in a sigh. I’d have to ask her later—she’d never spill the news in front
of this many people.

“What did she mean about negating the wielders?” Uncle Mike
asked. It was the first time he’d spoken since we came back from the
interrogation room, and he didn’t sound happy.

Mamie sighed. “It’s what you’ve been worried about.”

Uncle Mike drew a sharp breath. “It was the witch all
along?”

She nodded. “Ann’s already set things in motion.”

Uncle Mike swore and stomped out of the room, calling for
Aunt Julie.

“You gonna tell us?” I asked her. “Are we dying or
something?”

“Not sure I want the answer to that question, to be honest,”
Will muttered.

Mamie shook her head. “All of us are dying, just at
different rates. But the negation Ann referred to is something else, and
probably the reason she was planning a trip here in the first place. Let Uncle
Mike do some intel, then he’ll be able to tell you.”

“Did she just say intel?” Will whispered.

“Yes, but don’t razz her about it because she might be able
to melt our brains with her laser vision,” I said.

Mamie rolled her eyes. “I can’t melt your brains. Make you
believe you’re a tabby cat? Probably.”

Will and I shared freaked out glances. That sounded almost
as terrifying as the laser vision. “Sis, anything else we ought to know? Like,
can you bend forks with your mind?”

“Never tried, but the Montana eclipse seemed to wake up a
few dormant talents over the last couple of weeks.” She shrugged. “I’ve been
able to do readings since that very first eclipse, when you became a wielder,
but maybe now I can do other things.”

“That’s my girl,” Dad said, eyes gleaming.

He was the only person in the room who didn’t seem at least
a little wary of her. My opinion? A healthy fear of Super-Mamie was totally
called for.

“So now what?” I asked. “Wait for Ann to tell us where the
Shadow Man is?”

“She doesn’t know,” Mamie said. “I looked. He played her. He
used her cunning and her power and her people…and they fell for it. They set
off a chain of events they can’t stop anymore.”

The sandwiches came, but despite saying she was starving
earlier, Mamie didn’t eat. Instead, she turned her chair so she faced door,
like she was waiting for something to happen.

We found out what five minutes later.

Footsteps pounded down the hall and Jorge entered the room.
“Ann doesn’t know how to stop him. He’s already moving into our world.”

A tear slipped through my sister’s eyelashes. “Then we’ll
just have to see the whole prophecy through.”

Jorge knelt next to Mamie’s chair and patted her hand. “I’m
sorry. Truly. I failed you.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, suddenly angry. None of this was
Mamie’s fault, or Jorge’s. I knew he blamed himself for letting Ann find the
door, but she would’ve found it on her own eventually. “We haven’t failed
anything yet. There’s still one shaman out there, who might be able to help us.
Will and I need to go to China before the next eclipse and find him.”

“Or her,” Johnson said, giving Mamie a penitent nod.

“Or her,” I agreed. “We need whatever information we can get
to help the wielders fight the Shadow Man. There’s still a chance. We just need
to stick to the plan.”

“Yeah, that’s what we have to do.” Will pulled his knife
free from its sheath and stared at the blade. “We find the Chinese shaman, get
the information we need, then I’ll kill the fire-breathing lizard. Because
China is where it’ll be. They’ve seen two lunar eclipses in the last year…the
lizard is already there, waiting for us.”

He said it with such conviction, I had the feeling he’d
known it was there all along. Interesting. “And I’ll be there to help.”

A feeling of excitement fluttered in my chest as I looked up
at Dad. He had that intense expression—the one that told me he was on the
hunt—and I’m sure my expression mirrored his. Like father, like son. Which was
fitting, since his great-grandfather had disappeared in China. While I wanted
answers to the bigger puzzle, I now had an ulterior motive. Maybe, just maybe,
this shaman could tell me more about my family. Would we finally learn the
secrets of the Archer family?

“We should find Colonel Tannen,” I said. “To start planning
who’s going to meet up with Parker in China, and when.”

“No one’s going anywhere,” Uncle Mike said behind me,
sounding weighed down. He stood in the doorway, with Aunt Julie right behind
him.

They came in slowly, and I knew right away they had really
bad news. “What happened?”

“We figured out what Ann meant about negating the wielders,”
Aunt Julie said, casting a wary glance at Mamie. “You know how our program had
come under some scrutiny by Congress over the last several months?”

Oh, this was going to end in pain. “Yeah.”

“Well, someone had been leaking details about us to the Chair
of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman Tarrantino and I did
everything we could to cut off the leak, but we never could figure out who it
was,” Aunt Julie said. “It was Ann. She sold us out.”

“Congressman Patrick, the chair, has called for a full
investigation.” Uncle Mike looked like he wanted to hurl the congressman
through a window. “They think the program is a front for weapons trafficking or
some other illegal operation, and they definitely wonder why two minors are
involved. As a result, they’ve disbanded Pentagram Strike Force, pending a full
Congressional hearing. Effectively immediately.”

I thought back to the general’s paranoia at the meeting, and
calling me from a land line. How Will and I had been benched for months…was
this why? Because they were trying to keep us a secret a little longer?

“Wait a minute,” Will said. “The world’s under attack and
it’s only going to get worse. We’re needed out there!”

“That’s just it,” Uncle Mike said. “We can’t go. We’re
grounded, Cruessan. Period.”

“Perhaps I can help until the matter is resolved,” Jorge
said. “Let me know where I would be of most use, and I’ll leave tonight.”

But Aunt Julie was already shaking her head. “You’re being
detained for questioning. Congress has already issued a subpoena for you to
appear with us. Ann was nothing if not thorough.”

“Can they do that?” I asked. “He’s not a citizen.”

“They can do that. He’s in the country, and can be arrested
if he ignores a subpoena from Congress, just like the rest of you,” Dad
answered, his eyes hooded. “But they can’t stop me—I’m not an official part of
the program. I’ll go to China and begin searching for the shaman, since I
assume Ramirez and Parker are being recalled.”

“God, it’s all of us,” I said, as realization hit. “They’re
pulling all of us off active duty.”

Mamie stood. “Negating the wielders…I never would have
thought of it, but this was certainly more effective than trying to kill you
outright.”

“There’s more,” Aunt Julie said, laying a hand on my
shoulder. “It’s only a matter of time before some journalist forgets ethics and
names you and Cruessan, despite the fact that you’re minors. There’s a gag
order, but it won’t last long. The story is just too big.”

Uncle Mike nodded at Jorge. “They’ve already named the rest
of us. Everyone in the world is going to know who the wielders are, and some
really terrible things will be said about all of us over the coming weeks. I’m
sorry for that.”

At one time, being outed would’ve really upset me, but none
of that mattered now. What mattered was the Shadow Man had a toehold in our
world, and my own government was keeping me from the hunt.

“Then we’ll just have to make sure the truth comes out,” I
said. “Or the world is going to burn.”

And God help humankind if it did, because we wouldn’t be
there to stop it.

CNN—United States

Congressman Joseph Patrick of Rhode Island has stated
that hearings regarding the so-called “Pentagram Strike Force” will begin on
October 14
^th
. Top military officials are accused of misappropriation
of equipment, staff and funds to launch a clandestine mission that may be part
of a massive black-market weapons deal with foreign nations. In addition, as
reported here yesterday, they are also accused of employing two minor children
to assist with the mission, placing them on contractor payroll and routinely
sending them on dangerous assignments. The minors, now seventeen, were deployed
as young as fifteen to countries such as Afghanistan, India and Botswana. The
implicated military personnel are General Samuel Richardson, Major Luis
Ramirez, Captain Tom Parker, Captain Wendell Johnson, Captain Julie
Hunter-Tannen, and Lt. Colonel Michael Tannen.

A spokesperson for General Richardson’s office is quoted
as saying that “the mission in question is of critical national importance and
the two minors involved were the only choice.” They plan to present evidence
that our nation—and others around the world—are actively under attack and their
purpose is to curb or eliminate that threat.

At today’s press conference, Congressman Patrick stated,
“You’re going to hear a lot of razzle-dazzle about invincible creatures and
impossible enemies. The fact that the United States Army believes it can cover
up a scandal of this magnitude with tall tales and myths is ludicrous. They
will be held accountable. The people demand no less.”

Look for continuing coverage as the trial begins.

—end—