Stealing Phoenix (26 page)

Victor paced in frustration. ‘She’s just one small part of all this. I understand you want to rescue her—she has to be your priority—but there’s more at stake and you know it. We have to run this operation by numbers. I can’t have an amateur doing his own thing. That’s the way to get one of us killed.’

‘I’m not putting anyone in danger.’

‘Bull. You’re putting yourself on the line—and I won’t have it. I let you get away with the closed-lip thing in front of the others, but I have to know what you’re planning. Dad warned you—you could upset everything, ruin months of work by law-enforcement agencies across the globe. I can’t run this gig if we’re tripping over each other. Just tell me, damn it!’

I knew I should go back to my room; I might overhear something I really didn’t want to be forced to tell the Seer tomorrow, but curiosity kept me chained in place.

The candle was now a lake of hot wax. Yves turned to spinning a sphere of fire on his palm. ‘I can’t.’

‘Geez, don’t you get it, Yves? This is not about your soulfinder—it is about you and your arrogant assumption that you, a kid of seventeen, can out-think everyone else. Well, face it, bro, you can’t.’

Yves stared mutinously into space.

‘Aren’t you listening to me or do I have to remind you of what happened to Zed and Sky last fall? You told us the security perimeter at home couldn’t be breached—that your work was without equal, but a couple of Kelly’s goons still got through and took potshots at them.’

‘I thought you weren’t going to remind me.’ The ball of fire in his palm went out. ‘And I’ve made improvements since then. No one can get through now.’

‘Just listen to yourself—you’re doing it again. You’re clever, there’s no doubt about that—but you forget that so are other people. They can out-smart you.’

Yves folded his arms. ‘Our home is safe. Phee will be OK with me.’

‘So you take her side rather than your family’s?’

‘It’s not about sides—and she’s family too, now.’

Victor slapped the countertop with the papers, annoyed with Yves and himself. ‘Maybe.’ Yves glared. ‘OK, I know it, but she’s pulling us apart.’

Yves pushed to his feet, his stance combative. ‘She’s not and I don’t want to hear even a whisper from you that you blame her for this situation. My choices are my responsibility—mine alone. I can get the right result if you do your thing and let me do mine.’

‘You’re asking me to trust that your brain is street smart as well as intelligent?’

‘I suppose I am.’

‘Yves, you’re killing me here. I look at you and I try to make myself believe you know what you’re doing, but part of me thinks you’re going to be just as stupid as the next guy when a girl comes into the picture.’ He heaved a frustrated sigh. ‘I don’t want to argue with you. I want to help you. Of all my brothers, you are the one I least want thrown into this kind of business.’

‘Why?’

‘You’re too nice. Don’t see the bad in people, give them too much benefit of the doubt.’

Yves shook his head, not budging an inch. ‘I hope you’re not talking about Phee, because if you are I think you’ll rapidly discover just how unpleasant I can be.’

Victor must have recognized that stubborn look and stopped pushing on a closed door. ‘These are hers.’ With an abrupt change of direction, Victor dropped the papers on the counter. ‘You know she’s not telling you everything, don’t you?’

Yves shrugged and leafed through the documents.

‘I could get her to give us full disclosure—use my gift.’

‘No.’ Yves’s word was concise and final.

‘No? You won’t even consider it?’

‘Too many people have messed around with her over the years, Vick. If we become just another group breaking trust with her for our own purposes, we’ll never get her back. She’s told us what she can. You saw her today—she gave herself a headache and nosebleed trying to warn us what we faced.’

Victor removed his jacket and tugged at his tie to loosen his collar. ‘I don’t doubt her good intentions in that, but my radar tells me she’s hiding more—stuff that she could spill if she wanted. Things that disturb her so badly she’s in denial.’

‘So? Then it’s personal and none of our business.’

‘Is it?’

My spike of alarm must have given me away because Yves’s eyes went to the dark doorway. Oh yeah, unique signature: I’d forgotten he was an energy bloodhound.

‘Not asleep yet?’ he asked coolly. Now he had another thing to be angry about: I had been eavesdropping.

Reluctantly, I came into the light. There was no point hiding the fact I was listening. ‘I couldn’t. I found your discussion too fascinating. I mean, I was the subject, right?’

‘Yes, you were.’ Victor took a seat, perhaps trying to make himself less threatening, as he had been looming over me, but I caught the ‘I told you so’ look he flashed Yves, underlining my untrustworthiness. ‘I’m sorry you heard that, but I had to make my opinion known.’

‘It’s OK. I’ve been telling Yves that he shouldn’t put any of you at risk for me. I’m not worth it.’

‘I didn’t say you’re not as important as any of us, Phoenix,’ Victor corrected. ‘Just there’s more to think about than what we do with you.’

I wasn’t sure if that was any different; it was all a question of priorities and I wasn’t number one for him. ‘Of course, I get it—really I do.’

Yves now looked irritated by both of us: me for being so dismissive of my value and Victor for being so insistent on the worth of his operation. ‘OK, Vick, we’ll get out of your hair tomorrow. You go do what you have to do and we’ll go sightseeing.’ Yves pushed the papers over to me. ‘Sign there, Phee.’ He caught my distrustful expression and sighed. ‘It’s just a passport application, nothing more.’

We had the meeting with the Seer tomorrow. Wasn’t he even going to tell his brother about that? ‘But Yves—’

‘Not now, Phee; I’m feeling angry right at the moment and don’t want another argument. Just sign the damn papers.’

I wasn’t protesting about the papers and he knew it. Biting my lip, I put my signature in the box. It was weird—the first time I’d ever signed anything. My name looked loopy and childish; I wished I’d thought to practise.

‘Look, Phoenix, I don’t want you to think I don’t care about what happens to you.’ Victor slipped the documents back in his leather bag. ‘I just have a lot to balance right now. If you can persuade my brother to take me into his confidence it would be a whole lot easier.’

I nodded, knowing I’d get nowhere with Yves. ‘Sure, I’ll work on that. Um … good night.’

‘Yeah, sweet dreams,’ said Victor.

Doubtful. I anticipated a night of tossing and turning. I was now terrified as to what Yves was planning for tomorrow. As his brother said, he might be super-intelligent, but was he street smart? The two were not the same and Yves could well be led astray by thinking he was cleverer than the rest of us. I was going to have to come up with a plan of my own while Yves and Victor were busy on theirs.

Our appointment at the London Eye came around too quickly. Despite the tensions, the previous forty-eight hours had been an oasis in my desert of a life, and I had no wish to get back on the Seer’s caravan to nowhere, but what choice did I have? At breakfast, I could feel the order to make the meeting pushing away inside me like a cattle prod. Any time I tried to think of alternatives, my brain would short circuit and I would find myself at the door, heading out. Only Yves understood the reason for my bizarre behaviour; the other Benedicts were all too polite to make any comment but they must have thought I was the rudest house guest they’d ever entertained—and cruel to Yves as well.

‘Give yourself a break, Phee,’ he whispered as he let me rest my head against his chest, latest assault on the door foiled. ‘It’ll work out.’

I just did not believe him. Overnight, I’d come to the conclusion that the only plan that had any chance of succeeding would be for me to stop Yves handing over anything. I couldn’t attack Dragon, Unicorn, or, God forbid, the Seer, but Yves wouldn’t expect me to turn on him. I’d steal it off him as soon as I had a chance and make sure no one noticed.

So here we were, as I had always known we would have to be: ten fifteen on a breezy morning in the queue for the London Eye. White crests formed on the river where the wind went against the tide, seagulls struggling to hold their position as they glided overhead. I had to wait until we met up with the Seer before making my attempt; I didn’t want Yves to abort the encounter if he realized too soon what I’d done. We had no idea exactly how the Seer would choose to make his rendezvous, so followed logic and bought tickets for the overgrown Ferris wheel with its views of Westminister, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. We were just approaching the front of the queue when Dragon and Unicorn appeared beside us.

‘Glad you made it.’ Dragon’s grin was all teeth. ‘We have reserved a private capsule for our party.’

They pulled us out of the line and took us over to the VIP entrance. I shrank away from Unicorn.

Don’t let him touch you
, I warned Yves.
He’s a life-stealer.

It’s OK, sweetheart. My shields are up.

Just make sure they are on full power, hotshot.

Hustling us past the security guards, we found the Seer already in occupation of the see-through car. The doors closed behind us and the capsule continued its slow revolution upwards.

‘Excellent. I’m pleased to see you are on time. Then again, Phoenix would have made sure of that, wouldn’t you, my dear?’ The Seer’s hateful voice crept over me like army ants that could cover and devour prey in minutes.

I muttered something and drew closer to Yves, running my hand over his jeans pocket in what I hoped he understood as an affectionate rather than exploratory movement. The journey time for the London Eye to fully revolve was thirty minutes— there would be no escape for us, no chance of help until we came back down. I could now see why the Seer had chosen such a public place to meet. He had to ensure that we were out of reach of the other Benedicts, and this was a fl amboyant way of making sure all approaches were cut off, as we were as isolated as fish in an aquarium. Still, that was good for me; I could probably manage to freeze them all if I was careful, but where did Yves have the memory stick?

The Seer beckoned us to approach. Dragon and Unicorn remained at our side as we moved forward.

‘We haven’t met properly, have we, Mr Benedict?’ The Seer tapped the place on his stomach that Yves had set on fire. His new white jacket today bore no scar but the impression had clearly lingered.

Yves brushed his fingers soothingly on my upper arm. ‘No, I’ve not had that pleasure.’

‘I know a lot about you. Quite the boy wonder from what I’ve been told.’ The capsule edged out from the lower struts supporting the wheel, opening the view on all sides. We were leaving behind the things that anchored us to earth and sailing out with scant protection into a void. I already felt queasy, and normally I had a good head for heights. It had to be the company. ‘My American colleagues have been watching you with particular interest since your inventive powers became public knowledge. And now I learn that you’re my daughter’s soulfinder. Fascinating.’

‘No, don’t say it!’ my mind screamed but I held still, stapled to the spot by my own stupidity. It hadn’t occurred to me that the Seer would want to claim the relationship. But why wouldn’t he?

The only reaction Yves gave was to tighten his grip on my arm. ‘Then you’ll understand what she means to me,’ he said calmly. ‘And I expect you only want what’s best for her, being her father, just as I do.’

When were you going to tell me?
Yves asked me privately.

Never
. I was too ashamed to meet his eyes.
And he’s not. I refuse to believe it.

The Seer smiled. ‘But I imagine our views as to what is in her interests are different. You have to understand, Yves—I can call you Yves, can I not?’

Yves gave a cautious nod.

‘Phoenix belongs to a very close-knit community. Her family. We can’t have outsiders tearing the fabric apart just to please themselves. Even soulfinders.’

Like he really cared.

Yves dropped his hand to my waist, a possessive move claiming his girl. ‘But the bond between soulfinders is unique— you must know that.’