Sleight (42 page)

PUSHING THE DOOR wide with my knack I did a double take. Danton swung around the door frame levelling his Taser then dropped the barrel to the floor as he sucked in his breath.

There were four people in the room. Justine was standing in the middle of the room, facing the chair where I had found her the week before. Her head was bowed, her hair falling forward and hiding her face.

In the chair, Weller had been shackled in place. The chair restraints were covered in melting ice. Her chin rested on her chest. She still wore the formal dress she’d been worn the night Kenwoode had taken her away. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not.

Sprawled on the floor behind the chair was a bald headed body. Griff.

But the biggest surprise was Constance, bound and gagged with her back against the wall opposite the door, just below a window that had a heavy curtain drawn over it.

The noise we had been hearing was Constance struggling and banging her head against the wall. Her eyes were wide and streaming with tears. Even though her mouth was covered with duct tape I could still hear her muffled screams.

When I was ten I had been walking home from school and seen something thrashing around on the lawn in front of a neighbor’s house. I’d been confused by what I was seeing and had to stop and process for a minute to realize it was a dog covered in blood, tearing into a rabbit it had killed. Looking into the room and its occupants was like that. Everything in it was familiar but their disposition was so unusual that I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.

Shouldering past me Danton raised the Taser and swept the room, and moved quickly to Constance’s side. I followed behind him and stopped next to Justine. She wasn’t giving off any emotional current at all, as though she was asleep.

“Justine,” I said, touching her arm, “Are you all right?” My nerves were frazzled. The lack of any vibe coming from her was freaking me out.

She slowly raised her head in a loose roll and tried to focus glazed eyes on me. Her face was flushed and the fire scarred flesh on the left side now showed no signs of injury. Her hands fluttered at her sides. “Benny...you don’...”

Her voice trailed off and her head drooped again.

“Get away from her!”

Surprised by the warning I spun to look at Constance who Danton was helping get to her feet. Her appearance was ragged. Her mouth had a rash around it where the tape had been and her eyes were puffy and red. A large bruise that was starting to turn green and yellow discolored her left cheek.

“Constance? What?” I asked.

Pushing Danton away from her she ran to me. Grabbing my arm she started pulling me from the room.

“He’ll be back any second. She’s still recovering from her last transfer.” She glanced at Justine.

Danton walked over to us and placed a hand on Constance’s shoulder, looking warily at Justine. “Easy, you’re safe. Let’s get our bearings and move from there.” He gave her a grim smile.

“No, we don’t have time! We all need to leave
right now
!” Constance said, her voice cracking.

“I’m not leaving without Justine,” I said.

“I’m afraid it’s already too late for that,” a deep voice boomed from behind us.

WE ALL TURNED and saw Kenwoode standing in the doorway. His bulging muscles and enhanced size made the doorway he was standing in look small and out of scale. Bringing the Taser up, Danton placed himself between us and Kenwoode.

“Move away from the door. We’re leaving,” Danton spat.

Squaring his massive shoulders Kenwoode sighed, his voice tinged with resignation. “I’m afraid not.”

Resisting the need to use my hands to focus my knack I started to concentrate on the space around Kenwoode, waiting for an opportunity to manifest my ability and support whatever it was that Danton was preparing to do.

Turns out I didn’t have to wait any time at all to figure out what was going to happen next.

Danton shot Kenwoode with the Taser.

The spring coils launched from the gun, twin darts lodging in Kenwoode’s chest. Electrical current ran along the wires still attached to the gun. Looking down at the darts, a wisp of smoke drifting from his chest, Kenwoode grabbed the wires with his bare hands and pulled the barbed darts from his body. His shaggy brows furrowed into a scowl.

While Kenwoode focused on Danton, I used my telekinetic knack. Applying pressure at the back of his knee joints, I also directed a concentrated force to the center of his torso. His knees buckled and he fell back, but his hands shot out as he began to fall and he grabbed the door frame, keeping himself upright.

Not exactly what I’d been hoping for.

Danton hadn’t stopped moving when his Taser shot failed. He ran forward, ejecting the wired cartridges from the Taser and threw himself at Kenwoode. Using his grip on the opposite sides of the door frame Kenwoode catapulted himself toward Danton.

As soon as his feet left the ground I saw my chance. Focusing on his forward momentum I influenced the space on his right to throw his headlong lunge off and direct him to the left. Danton passed him on the right as I ran forward and wound up a haymaker, putting every scrap of knack influence I could muster behind it.

As Kenwoode veered away from Danton I landed my fist right on his jaw.

Pain exploded in my hand. Kenwoode flew to the side and slid on the floor getting tangled up with Weller behind the weird medical chair. Changing the direction of his attack, Danton leaped on him and jammed the Taser into Kenwoode’s stomach and pulled the trigger again.

A loud ‘bramp’ noise emitted from the gun and the smell of burning metal and cloth filled the air.

Kenwoode rolled away from Danton toward the window, and reared up. Focusing my influence on his face I attempted to poke at his eyes with a concentrated burst of telekinesis.

Shaking his head and waving his hands in front of his face he rolled again and tried to get to his feet. Danton followed him. I yanked Justine by her shirt and pushed her behind me. Constance hung back, her eyes wide. I felt a sense of protection surge in my chest.

Rushing at Kenwoode, Danton pushed the Taser at him again.

And that’s where our seconds of combat glory went seriously askew.

Instead of attempting to dodge Danton, Kenwoode met him head on. He threw one massive arm in a wide loop, catching Danton in the side of the head. The force of the blow threw Danton backward and flipped him over the chair. He landed on his stomach and lay still.

Kenwoode turned and leaped past me. Before I could do more than spin around, he threw a thickly muscled arm around Justine, and hauled her close to the window.

Glaring at me, he said, “That’s enough Benjamin. Don’t make me hurt you.”

“Hurt him? You’ve as good as killed two other people in this room,” Constance said.

Tightening his grip on Justine, he narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t the same Constance, and you know it,” he said, nodding toward Griff and Weller. “What have I done exactly? I’ve incapacitated two murderers. Weller has likely killed dozens.”

“You’re keeping score?” I said.

Justine hung limp in his grasp. “It isn’t a matter of keeping score. They were actively threatening the Natural community. But, they still had some intrinsic value to me.”

“That sounds suspiciously like you in your earlier days,” Constance said.

“Does it? They directly threatened Benjamin and others. I just hurried the wheels of justice to their inevitable conclusion. Maybe that is like the old me.”

I seethed as I watched his grip on Justine, her arms pinned with one burly arm. “So that’s it?
You
decide?”

“Benjamin I have tried educate you, but it is becoming painfully apparent that you may not be capable of enlightenment. A pity, because you could make a tremendous impact.”

“Let her go, Preston. Please,” said Constance.

Kenwoode’s eyes remained locked on us. “I’m afraid I can’t do that Constance. My curse necessitates having an association with a Natural who has the healing aberration.”

“You’re just going to force her to restore you so that your knack doesn’t cripple you? And then what? You’ll find someone else when you’ve used her up?” I hissed.

“I haven’t forced her to do anything. The last thing I want to do is negatively affect her health. I’ve helped her replenish and heal herself. And I can’t entrust her to Harald’s care or yours. You’ve both put her at risk and her infatuation with you is a problem.”

A ribbon of ice circled my heart. “No.”

“Yes. The two thugs of Sonja’s? That was our little friend here.” He gave Justine a gentle almost fatherly squeeze. I repressed a shudder of disgust. “My small efficacy with hypnotism was enough to nudge her in a direction that her blossoming ability already wanted her to go.”

I didn’t understand why he was delivering a monologue when he should just focus on escaping. I started to draw my knack around him, looking for an opportunity.

He shrugged his shoulders and glared at me. “Don’t Benjamin.”

“Don’t do this Preston. We can help you. You don’t need to do this,” pleaded Constance.

“Wrong again my dear. I’m leaving with the girl no matter what. Benjamin, you can come with us.”

“Come with you? After what you’ve done to Justine?” I rasped, my voice husky with pent up anger. The fact that another betrayal was standing right in front of me made me feel sick. His choice of Sawyer, an immature mess-up artist, Brock, a hot head with niche knack skills, it all made sense now. They’d been brought in because he didn’t want a sophisticated crew in place that might figure out that he wasn’t on the level.

“Benjamin it’s much simpler than you might think. The coming contretemps with the Shades is going to force people to choose sides. We can’t wait for Harald’s slow methodology. Compromises have to be made. You can influence the outcome. Tremendously so.”

His bright blue eyes stared at me. He felt no remorse or conflict with what he was doing. The end justifying his means. His use of Weller and Griff for healing energy was disgusting, but his plan for subjugating Justine and warping her character was just plain evil. But I wasn’t going to let my principles cost Justine’s life.

“What is your choice Benjamin?” he said in a low voice.

“I’m in,” I said.

Next to me, Constance sucked in a breath. “Benjamin, no!”

I pushed her away, behind me. “What do we do? How do we get out of here?”

His eyebrows rose for the smallest of instants. Loosening his grip on Justine he narrowed one eye. “Constance will need to be silenced. I’ll need to see you render her unconscious.”

“No problem,” I said, as I whirled back to her and raised my hands.

I’d screwed up a month ago. Instead of taking action early and making the tough choices I’d kept things to myself and engaged in self-delusion. I wasn’t going for half measures again. Her eyes wide, Constance shrank from me and held her hands up, palms out.

“Benny, don’t,” she whispered.

“Sorry,” I said.

Using my influence I knocked her to the floor and caused her head to bounce off it violently. Her head lolled and blood trickled from her mouth.

Turning back to Kenwoode I shook myself. “Now what? How does this work? Do you have an organization? A team? Brock?”

Releasing Justine he pursed his lips. “You continue to surprise me. I think we can save the details for later, but no, Brock isn’t part of the plan.”

“Okay. I guess that makes it pretty clear,” I said, and then I threw a concentrated wall of telekinesis at him, using my anger and frustration to intensify my influence.

Caught off guard he was lifted off his feet and hurled backward toward the curtained window.

Whether it was my growing talent, the anger or my true intent, he smashed through the window, the curtain enveloping him as he fell.

Running to the window I looked out and watched him fall into darkness. The wooded landscape below quickly hid him from view but the sound of breaking branches and a heavy thud floated back up to me. A hand touched my shoulder and I turned to see Constance looking up at me.

“Benny, what have you done?”

I swallowed the bile that was washing at the back of my throat. “Protecting the people I care about.”

And crossing a line.