Wild Card (3 page)

“You didn’t finish on Obs,” I said finally. “And you didn’t finish explaining the reason for that Ruger either.”

Julie cleared her throat. Her heart rate spiked back up.

“I don’t suppose you’d let me tie you up first?” she said.

I almost smiled. “Don’t get smart.” For a moment, the last couple of years fell away, and we were just two soldiers doing a difficult job and sharing a bit of dark humor. I’d missed the easy camaraderie. But then again, I’d also missed some bad times for 4-10 as well, from the sound of it.

“Not much of a joke, really.” She stirred, unconsciously easing herself away from me. “I don’t know what effect this is going to have on you.”

I frowned at her.

“You’ve got to understand first what’s gone wrong with 4-10,” she said. “Not with the people on the ground, with the command structure. People like Petersen.” She paused. “When this operation came up, it was the last straw. We were afraid the whole command had gone over to the dark side. So Keith and I went looking for information.”

“You think I’m going to be upset because you’ve been bucking the chain of command? What did you do? Break into his office?”

“It wasn’t that,” she snapped. So they
had
broken into his office. Must have been ultra-careful.

“It was what we found,” she went on, more quietly. “You don’t remember much for a while after they got you back from South America, do you?”

“Some.” I was about to go on and say that it was only to be expected, an aftereffect of being bitten. But then I realized that no one from Altau had ever said anything to me about memory lapses after being infused. The Altau might purposely screw with your memory, but that was something else entirely.

How much had I forgotten?

Julie watched me as my mouth opened and closed a couple of times.

It was like trying to see something in your blind spot. You know it’s there. You can’t quite catch it.

I could remember Petersen making me sign an agreement, and Colonel Laine coming in later, telling me he’d taken over Obs. I could remember after that point. Before that? Flickers. Jumbled sounds and smells and tastes and images, without a thread to connect them. And my mind sliding away as I tried.

Who had been running Obs before Colonel Laine arrived? Petersen? My skin crawled.

Why hadn’t I thought about it? Why was it so difficult to think about it?

What had Judicator Remy said at the Assembly? He’d said he detected evidence of mental blocks in my head. Remy’s conclusions about me were false, forced on him by Basilikos, but that didn’t mean he’d made up his evidence. I hadn’t dismissed his talk of blocks, but I’d thought maybe there were things I had done to myself. Strong places in my head for memories I wanted locked away. A stomach-sickening lurch accompanied that thought and I stamped down on it.

“They screwed with your head, Amber,” Julie whispered carefully. “When Colonel Laine was about to take over Obs, they closed it all up, sure they’d get their hands on you again soon.”

Now my heart was racing. When Keith had yelled out something like that to me as he was arrested, I’d gone and gotten drunk. Why? What was there? What made me not want to confront it?

“But Laine put a new team into Obs and sent you out here to Denver,” Julie went on remorselessly. “He became suspicious of what they’d done. They knew he was on to them, but they have support he doesn’t. That’s why he’s running now.”

Things clicked into place. The feeling that the colonel was always giving me extra leeway. In truth, he was doing whatever he could to keep me away from the base and Petersen while he figured out what had been done to me.

“But it’s been too long. Whatever they did to hide what was done to you was supposed to be a temporary fix. They think it might be about to fail. They don’t know what’ll happen.” She paused. “And the catch is, my telling you about it might speed that up.”

“And what were they trying to do?” I asked. I felt cold and remote. My wrist itched where my bracelet sat. The bracelet was a gift from the Adepts. It was intended to warn me of danger, but it’d gotten a little freaky over the last couple of days.

The van stopped and I tensed up. Victor knocked on the door panel.

I moved across and knelt by the door. “Yeah?”

“Things movin’,” he said. “Gotta make time to talk.”

Julie put out a hand to take my arm, then stopped without touching me.

“One minute,” I said to Victor, and turned to listen to her.

“Amber, I don’t like doing this, but I’m desperate. Keith and I can’t go back. That’s fine, we can handle that. But Keith’s where he is now because of what he tried to do for you. You get him out, and we’ll tell you everything we know.”

I blinked. I hadn’t expected that, but I could understand her position. I just nodded and opened the sliding door.

Victor was standing outside, with his cell dwarfed in his hand. He glanced behind me, into the back of the van, and hid his sigh of relief.

“It’s Trey,” he said, handing the cell over.

Trey was the one I’d assigned to watch Julie’s motel.

“Talk to me,” I said.

“Good thing Ms. Alverson is clear of here.” He was talking low, as if he wanted to whisper. “Team of three freaking ninjas just went in her room. Slick as anything. Four came out, so I figure someone else went in through the back too. Black clothing, ski masks, MP5s with silencers. Got in a truck, but not moving yet. Took some stuff from the room.”

“Shit. Trey, get away. Now.”

“They haven’t made me.”

“Don’t risk it. Move. Keep the cell on, keep talking.”

Julie’s motel was on East Colfax as it headed out from Aurora. I’d told Trey to watch from across the road, in the RV park. Four lanes and a median strip on top of the forty yards to Julie’s room. He should be safe, but if I was running the op, I’d have had a couple of people on roofs scanning the area with nightscopes.

“Your motel just had a visit from the Nagas,” I said to Julie as she came out of the van to join us.

“Sweet Jesus, that was quick.” She looked uncomfortable. “I thought I’d have a day clear.”

“Keith arrested, you AWOL. Petersen knew you’d be here. What cover are you using?”

“My private backup.”

“We have to assume he’s cracked that. You need to disappear. You have anything valuable in the room? Security problem?”

“No.” Her eyes flicked to Victor and back. “Some proof of the things I was telling you about. You, the command structure, the whole mess.”

I shrugged. I wasn’t interested in the proof about me. Julie had convinced me. As for the rest of it, I’d trust the FBI to crack open every file, and then some, if Agent Ingram was running the show.

“I’m clear,” Trey said. “They’re still parked. No, wait, I can see their truck. They’ve pulled out behind me.”

Trey sounded a lot less confident suddenly.

“Vic, we may need backup in a hurry,” I said, and Victor started dialing on his cell.

But I had Trey turn onto the interstate and they didn’t follow him there.  After a couple of minutes without pursuit, I told him to get off the interstate, swap the plates on his car and then go home.

Another cell chirped. It was my cell’s ringtone, so I reached for my pocket, but I’d given it to Victor to hold.

He fumbled it out, muttering about charging for being a telephone exchange.

I chuckled, but that stopped as soon as I heard the voice on the cell.

“Amber, it’s Pia. We need you here, now. Jen’s coming around.”

Chapter 3

“You’re with me,” I said to Julie as Victor drove us to where my car was parked.

“I can take care of myself,” she said.

“What did you say to me not fifteen minutes ago? You think you can handle it if a team comes looking for you?”

She didn’t have an answer to that.

I wasn’t going to let her go. She didn’t know Denver, didn’t have any contacts except me and there were a hundred ways the Nagas would be able to find her. And I needed to hear the rest of what she had to say.

“You’re with me,” I repeated. “In fact…” I hesitated. This was really flying by the seat of my pants. “In fact, I have a job for you while we wait to spring Keith.”

“I’m not a…” she said, her face closed. I was pretty sure she’d been going to say ‘blood donor,’ but we were in the cab with Victor and she knew I was keeping the paranormal side away from him.

I snorted. “Not that sort of job. You were on that oil company gig in Nigeria , back in ’07, weren’t you? Close protection is your specialty.”

“I have
all
my little Ops 4-10 badges,” she snapped back. “And I wasn’t
on
that gig, I
led
it.”

Victor wiped a hand over his chin, hiding a smile.

I needed to protect Jen and I needed to do a hundred other things. Unfortunately, none of my warring paranormal abilities seemed to include cloning myself. Having Julie available was incredible luck. Victor’s people were good, but I wouldn’t put them up against the Nagas. And Julie already knew that there were paranormal threats. I couldn’t start briefing Victor’s people for a possible attack by Basilikos. At least Julie was only a single breach in the confidentiality rules. I’d have to figure out how I squared that with House Altau when the time came. And I’d need to argue for Altau to give me David and Pia back, to work with Julie on the protection detail.

“You’re hired.” I said, and didn’t give her time to argue. “Part of the deal for Keith. You too, Victor. I know Jen’s going to want to be back at Manassah. I’ve got other tasks, so I need Julie coordinating the protection, because she understands the threats. But I’ll need you to provide rotating crew for 24/7 security.”

He nodded, his lips pursed. “Long as Ms. Kingslund wants us there.”

Jen had fretted at the security before, but after her kidnapping, I doubted she’d be complaining. And if he was worried that his men had failed in their job, I thought Jen would focus more on that they’d died trying against unequal odds. Jen had argued to keep the security detail smaller, and she’d be hurting because of that. I was confident that she’d want Victor’s team.

Victor dropped us off at my car.

“You take care,” he rumbled, speaking so quietly I felt his voice as much as heard it.

I thanked him for everything he’d done. “Check on Trey,” I added as he was leaving, and he was calling as he pulled away.

We climbed in my car. As I drove I pulled the blindfold we’d used in the van from my pocket and handed it to Julie.

“Sorry. This location is confidential.”

She rolled her eyes, but put the blindfold on.

“At least I won’t have to watch you driving,” she said, tilting the seat back and stretching out. “Nice car by the way. Being a PI pays better than I thought.”

I laughed. “I wish. Payment in lieu. But I do like it.”

And I did. I’d been unable to drive it the previous week, with Matlal teams who knew the car actively searching for me. There were still Matlal Athanate out there in Denver, of course, but since the Assembly and Basilikos’ defeat, they had a lot more on their minds than hunting for me.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Haven was lit up like a Disney castle.

Julie, good soldier that she was, had slept the whole way, but the change in speed alerted her and she sat back up as we drove along Bear Ridge.

“There are guards. You’ll probably be frisked,” I said.

“Again,” she replied. They’d been thorough when they’d snatched her in the van.

I was right. Haven was on alert after the attacks over the weekend and security had been tightened all the way around.

I was fine. My hand scan and their noses confirmed who I was easily enough.

They weren’t happy with Julie.

“Who is she, House Farrell?” said the senior guard.

“A former colleague of mine, Julie Alverson. She’s been employed by my House for security purposes.”

“House, this whole site is secret. You can’t just bring her in.”

“The location’s still secret; she doesn’t know where the hell we are. And as for knowing about Athanate, all this,” I waved at the bustle, “isn’t telling her anything she and a whole battalion of army people don’t know.”

The guards still weren’t happy. They couldn’t raise Bian from a crisis meeting to clear it. Time was wasting; I needed to get in to be there for Jen.

“Julie’s House Farrell,” I tried. “She’s my responsibility.”

Tension rose in everyone at the gate. Julie because she didn’t know what I was claiming, and the guards because their Athanate senses disagreed with my words.

“She’s unbitten,” the senior guard said. “I’d guess unbound.”

I’d probably fallen foul of yet another Athanate rule I hadn’t had time to learn, but I couldn’t back down.

“I’m House Farrell. I’ll dictate who’s in my House.”

The guard blinked at that. He motioned the others back and stood close.

“House,” he muttered, “it’s your call. But understand, there are responsibilities that go with it. Absolute responsibilities. Remember that.”

I swallowed and nodded.

Pia was producing a handbook of what being House Farrell entailed for me, and I desperately needed time to study that. If only everything else would stop for a minute.

The guard stepped back and the gates swung open.

I drove through and a traffic marshal guided us to parking. It’d been getting full as I left earlier, but things had escalated while I was out.

House Altau and all the Panethus Athanate were gearing up for the changes brought about in the aftermath of the Assembly. The Theokos subgroup had left Basilikos; crossed the floor to join Panethus. An avalanche of security procedures were being exchanged between teams. The Canadian Houses had elected to leave the Midnight Empire and join Panethus. More avalanches. All Altau’s scattered American sub-Houses had to be integrated into the new Panethus systems. Technology was capable of fantastic things, but for this monumental and complex a task, nothing beat having people right in front of you.

And Panethus itself was changing. The defining focus for the creed had shifted from their philosophy of benevolent, consensual personal interaction with humans to a goal of integrating with human society as a whole—Emergence. In that apparently simple switch, a vast array of allegiances had shifted. An Athanate could be a staunch advocate of positive, symbiotic relationships with human kin and fiercely opposed to making the Athanate visible to the world at large.