Dead Embers (13 page)

Ingrid paused before the large map taped to a wall, covered
in dozens of little black pins. A single green pin gleamed among the forest of
black. Ingrid poked a finger at it.

"We have the location of one more
einherjar
."

Fenrir scowled. "Just one?"

"There were more." She threw a quick glance at the
map, and my heart twinged at the flicker of sadness in her eyes. Apparently she
was
capable of emotion. "This one is all that we have left."

Fen's eyes darkened beneath his thick eyebrows. "So it
is true?"

She nodded, then reached for the laptop on the nearest desk
and tapped away. When she spun the computer around to face Fen, we craned our
necks to see the photograph displayed on one half of the screen. The other half
of the screen contained data, most likely information on this Warrior we were
about to retrieve. I leaned closer to study the warrior-woman's picture.

The dark headscarf concealing her hair did nothing to
detract from the beauty of her face. Nor did the demure covering hide the
strength of her chin and the fire in her eyes. I scanned the personal
information detailed next to her photograph.

Medeia Karim. Twenty-eight years old. Leader of a small
resistance movement.

Fen tapped the enter key, his movement so casual and
confident that I froze. When had he learned how to use a computer? The more
time I spent with Fen, the more I learned that surprised the hell out of me.

The next few screens displayed long-range photographs and
surveillance pictures of the woman in and around the city and inside a building
that looked like a museum or a library.

Sigrun moved up from the back of the group, slipping in
beside me for a better view. The dazed yet curious expression on her face
reminded me that my Valkyrie friend was having one of her first
twentieth-century Midgard experiences, and I was ignoring her. Some host I
turned out to be. But then I wasn't really a host. Asgard had proved more of a
home to me than Midgard had ever been, so perhaps I wasn't the best person to
show my friend around.

Sigrun tilted her head at the computer screen until she
looked positively cross-eyed. I leaned over and whispered, "You all
right?"

Her grey eyes crinkled as she grinned and nodded. "Yes,
I am very all right. Midgard is a much more magical place than I thought."

I frowned. "Magical? What do you mean?"

Sigrun nodded at the laptop screen, "You must have
powerful magic to place the
einherjar
inside those black boxes."

I smiled back at her, enjoying her childlike exuberance
about a place in which all I could see was strife and poverty. But my smile
soon faded. I had no choice but to spoil her pleasure. "It's not magic,
Sigrun. That is a laptop."

"A lap top?" She frowned, staring at my face as if
I'd grown wings out of my ears. "What do you mean? What is it that goes on
top of my lap?" She bent her head and gave her lap a quick inspection,
then turned her curious eyes on me.

"The computer. It's the computer that goes on your
lap." I nodded at the laptop where Fen and ice queen Ingrid bent close to
the screen, discussing the Karim woman.

Sigrun smiled. "Ah yes, I have heard of your Midgard
com pewters."

I really wanted to giggle, but I squashed the urge, sure
that any amusement would hurt Sigrun's feelings. "That black box Ingrid is
using is a computer designed to carry around with you. You can use it anywhere,
open it up and use it on your lap."

"I still do not understand. How do you get the
einherjar
inside it?"

Behind me, I could have sworn Joshua snorted, but he covered
the sound with a choked cough.

"You don't put the
einherjar
inside the
computer. It's meant to hold information. And that is just a photograph of her,
not the actual person."

"Oh, I think I understand." Sigrun's eyes
twinkled. "And I apologize if I have been a pain in the donkey."

I did a double take. "Huh? A pain in the donkey?"
It took me a second to figure out what she meant. Joshua snorted again, this
time loud enough for Sigrun to hear. Both Joshua and Aimee were red in the face
and teary eyed, trying really hard not to burst out laughing. I truly
understood their predicament. I glanced at Sigrun, whose expression of complete
innocence made it so much harder for me to hold back the giggles. "Er . .
. it's not pain in the donkey. It's pain in the ass."

Sigrun nodded. "Yes, a donkey and an ass. They are the
same thing, are they not?"

I shook my head. "No, the
ass
in that phrase has
nothing to do with a donkey."

"It doesn't?" Poor Sigrun was having a hard time
understanding. And just maybe I wasn't doing a very good job of explaining
either. "Then what does
ass
mean?"

I schooled the muscles in my face, willing them to behave
and forcing the grin to stay off my lips. "It means behind or
bottom."

"It also means rear end, butt and backside,"
Joshua piped up just before he and Aimee dissolved into a fit of giggles. I was
horrified. I turned back to Sigrun, afraid I'd need serious damage control, but
I needn’t have worried.

Sigrun herself was giggling, her hand in front of her mouth,
cheeks pink at the hilarity.

I aimed a critical glare at Aimee and Joshua. "You guys
better behave yourselves. I'm not getting into any more trouble because of
you," I admonished, despite knowing I was just as guilty.

I turned my attention back to Fen and Ingrid, who were
thankfully still busy ignoring us. They spoke in hushed, worried whispers. I
stared at the computer screen and at the face of the next Warrior to join
Odin's ranks. But before I could get more than a quick glance, Ingrid shot me a
stiff glare and turned the laptop away.

I scowled. Then sighed, although I really wanted to growl my
frustrations at her.

"She is really a very nice person, you know."

I cringed, aware that Sigrun had the strangest way of
picking up on my thoughts. "Of course she is," I responded, a little
too quickly. "I never said otherwise."

"I saw the way you two looked at each other."
Sigrun stepped aside to allow an Ulfr to pass by, his hands filled with files
and papers. "Ingrid feels threatened. This is the first time a Valkyrie
has ever been given the position of Team Leader. It had always been a Warrior
until Fenrir decided to give her a chance. And she has taken her responsibility
very seriously."

"And she sees me as a threat?"

"Not a threat. Just different."

Different.

My hackles rose at the mere thought of the word. For a brief
moment, flashes of memory taunted me, painful images of my pathetic struggles
with being different all my life, starting with that first visit to a
psychiatrist at age five to find out why I claimed to see golden auras around
people. What would my old psychiatrist think now if he knew the glowing people
were in reality Warriors of Valhalla, the brave chosen ones who would fight for
Odin at Ragnarok?

Even as a teen, I was always the outsider, the different
kid, the newcomer. Alone in Midgard, alone in Asgard.

My silence drew a small punch from Sigrun. "Stop being
silly. I know that look. You
are
different. But in a good way, a special
way."

I smiled, my heart a lot warmer that it had been five
minutes ago. Sigrun had a way of always putting me at ease. But peace was the
last thing I could attain right now.

Fen and Ingrid's raised voices drew my attention back to the
computer. He beckoned us all to come over to the table. "Attention, team.
I have the details of our mission." He waited only seconds for us to move
closer before he filled us in on the new
einherjar
. He outlined the
Retrieval very briefly, but I gave him only half my attention.

My thoughts remained fixed on the woman on the monitor and
the words that blinked beside her photograph.

Retrieval: Medeia Karim.

Retrieval meant this woman was about to join the ranks of
Odin's most prized Warriors.

And it also meant she was about to die.

We kept silent as we absorbed the details of the mission. I
guess even the most seasoned of Asgard's Warriors didn't take death for
granted.

Fen's attention shifted from the laptop to the whiteboard
with its multicolored pins. Arms folded, he studied the pin placements as if
the fate of the world lay upon his Ulfr shoulders.

I stepped closer to the board. "Fen?"

He turned to me, the worried look in his eye making my
stomach twist. I'd seen that look before. On our last mission to LA. Somehow I
didn't want to know any more.

"This should not be happening." He shook his head,
the movement sharp and angry. He met my eyes, his frown bleeding darkness and
worry into the crevices of his face. Then he turned on his heel and went back
to the laptop, tapping the keys and bringing up a map of the world. This time,
his computer savvy made no impression.

"It is all the black pins that are worrying him,"
Ingrid said softly beside me.

"What do they mean? The black pins?" I still
wasn't sure I liked her all that much, but I saw her with different eyes now,
aware that she had a huge pile on her plate.

"Every black pin on that board indicates a Warrior we
have lost."

"Lost?" I shook my head. Behind me, a wave of
concerned questions swept through the rest of the team. Fen's dark frown and
the sad tinge to Ingrid's eyes screamed that something was very wrong.

"They are all dead." Whatever warmth had flickered
in Ingrid's expression in the last few sympathetic moments disappeared as her
jaw clenched and her attention returned to the laptop.

I frowned. Warriors were supposed to be dead, and although I
wanted to say as much, something in the air—a certain, sudden fear of what she
might confirm—made me wait for her to elaborate in her own time. Maybe I could
ignore the cold fingers of instinct, which held my gut in its tight fist. Maybe
I was wrong and this had nothing to do with the lost
einherjar
in LA.

"Over the last three weeks, every Warrior we have found
and tried to retrieve has turned out to be irretrievable." Ingrid walked
toward the map, gesturing at the clusters of black pins that stabbed into
various locations on the northern tip of the African continent. Cairo sat
surrounded by black with only one green pin left. "This pin is the last
Warrior we have on our list. Medeia Karim. After her, it is a waiting game
until the next Warrior turns up."

Dread sat coiled and heavy in my gut. "Why were they
irretrievable? Were y . . . were we too late?" I used the word
we
because I sensed the other Valkyrie would take offense at anything that sounded
critical of her performance. Sucked to be Ingrid on this watch.

"No, we were on time. They just were not retrievable.
They had all stopped glowing." Ingrid and Fen shared a covert look, and
Odin's general gave her an almost imperceptible nod.

Beside me, Sigrun's wings gave a tiny flutter, and I felt
mine shiver too, as if fear had evolved into a cold breeze running its fingers
through our feathers.

"The fact that they had stopped glowing so soon was
strange enough, but . . ." Ingrid paused, taking a short breath, the skin
on her face tightening before she continued. "Each body we found was
covered in a strange oily substance." My heart plunged and her words
blurred, but I forced myself to listen, even though all I could see was a film
of oily black gloop. "We have been unable to identify the liquid. We
assume it is the reason the Warriors do not glow any longer."

She looked at Fen, who crossed his arms and addressed the
team. "I have not been able to identify it, either. And neither has Odin.
It is indeed a strange poison, and though I have also seen it myself, I have
been unable decipher what we are dealing with." He sighed. "For this
reason we need to get moving. We need to learn more. Tracking Karim is the most
important thing right now, not only because she is our only new
einherjar
at the moment. Her life is in jeopardy, too. We need to find out how they are
getting to the new Warriors, and who is it that is killing them. Valkyrie
Ingrid has her teams spread out around the city, and we will help to keep a
close eye on Karim. Do not interfere no matter what. All you are here to do is
to watch."

I wasn't sure I liked the idea of standing back and watching
someone meet their death. "So what do we do next? We stake her out?"
I asked. The whole spy thing sounded cruel. Were we just supposed to watch her
die? Even if a Warrior's natural death was temporary, she would still feel pain
and fear. What bothered me most was that now, for the first time, a new
Warrior's human death could actually be permanent; we could lose them forever.

"Each team will take a locality that Karim is known to
frequent, and will keep an eye on her. You will have satellite phones and cell
phones to keep in touch." Fen pointed to a pile of phones on the table.
Everyone grabbed a cell plus one of the bulkier satellite phones and pocketed
them. Sigrun paused to inspect a cell phone that fitted perfectly within her
palm and gleamed silver in the harsh fluorescent light. She frowned, her
expression making it clear she had no idea what the device was. But she tucked
the phone away without asking any questions. I made a note to get her up to
speed as soon as possible.

"We will follow her until she meets her end," Fen
continued. "It is imperative we retrieve her as soon as it's time for her
burial. Any longer and there is a chance we may lose her too. Whatever is happening
to them seems to happen between the funeral and the time we go to get the
body."

Ingrid and Fen spoke to each team, discussing individual
locations and specific requirements for each pair. Then Ingrid added,
"Karim is our only Warrior left in Cairo. This Retrieval must not
fail." She walked to me, her face dark with tension and a trace of fear.
"Valkyrie Brynhildr, you and Mika will observe Karim today." Ingrid
handed me a battered leather satchel. Inside I found an envelope stuffed with
money—and directions to a café on the outskirts of the city. I stuffed the
phones inside, threw the bag over my shoulder and nodded, accepting her
authority with that one small movement.