djinn wars 03 - fallen (9 page)

“I’m going, too,” she announced, and I blinked, then sent an uncertain glance up at Jace.

Being Jace, he came to my rescue at once. “We appreciate the offer, Evony, but this is going to be a dangerous expedition. Are you a trained warrior?”

“Of course I’m not,” she retorted. “I’m a former cocktail waitress who also knows how to wrench on cars. But it’s not as if Jessica used to be in Special Forces or something.”

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Jace beat me to it.

“True, but her father was a policeman and trained her how to shoot and fight. Also, she’s been inside the Los Alamos labs and can help guide us to where Miles Odekirk might be working.”

“I’ve been there, too — ” Evony began.

“In one building, on one occasion. We appreciate what you want to do, but there are important things to do here as well.”

“Oh, what?” Her dark eyes were blazing. “Change the oil in one of the trucks? Bring Zahrias his hot chocolate? You can’t stop me from going. If you won’t give me space in one of the vehicles, I’ll just hot-wire one and follow you.”

She probably could, too. And would, unless Lauren had a couple of the guys who were staying in Taos hogtie her and lock her in her suite.

“It’s not safe for you,” Jace told her.

“And it’s safe for the rest of you? Sounds you’re all taking a pretty big risk.”

His expression was grim, but also sad, as if he knew he was about to tell her something she really didn’t want to hear. “Yes, we are, but once we’re away from the field that device projects, our powers will return to us. That also means our Chosen will heal more quickly if they are attacked. Evony, you will have no such protection, because Natila is gone. That sort of bond only exists between the djinn and their Chosen. Do you understand why you must remain here?”

While Jace was speaking, Evony had stood very still, her eyes going narrower and narrower. What I didn’t see was any sort of surprise or shock in her expression, as if she’d already guessed that with Natila gone, she had none of the supernatural protections the rest of the Chosen enjoyed. And when she spoke, her tone was flat, unyielding. “No. You say your powers will come back, but I saw how wiped out you were after we left Los Alamos. There’s no guarantee all you djinn will just bounce back right away once we’re out of here. I mean, that’s why you’re driving instead of just blinking over there, right?”

He gave her the smallest of nods. “You’re speaking of my condition as I was after being subjected to the device’s effects for weeks and weeks,” he replied gently. “The djinn here will have only experienced it for a few days, and those at its lowest viable setting. It is not the same situation at all.”

To my own surprise, I found myself cutting in then. “If you’re really determined to go, Evony, then you’re right — there probably isn’t much we can do to stop you. And you do know Los Alamos, which can only help. I guess all I can ask is that you stick close to someone who can help protect you when the shit hits the fan. Maybe Dani. Lauren isn’t going with us, so he won’t be worrying about her.”

“I don’t need anyone looking out for me — ”

“But you do,” Jace interrupted, although his tone was gentle. His voice sounded in my mind.

Are you sure, Jessica?

Yes. She’ll come anyway, no matter what we do. At least this way, she’ll be with the main group and will stand a better chance. Do you really want to run the risk of her following us to Los Alamos and getting jumped by those same bastards who mutilated Aidan?

The slightest tremor went through him. I doubted that Evony even noticed it, but he was standing right next to me. I could tell my reminder about the fate of the hunting party was not something he wanted to think about. To tell the truth, I really didn’t want to think about it, either, but it was important that we always keep in mind what we were up against. And right then I began to suspect that we were up against even more than we’d originally thought. We still had no clues as to what had happened to the Chosen who’d first gone to investigate Los Alamos. Now, though, after seeing what this Khalim and his gang had done, I very much feared that those four had been taken, or killed…or worse.

“You do need someone, Evony,” Jace said, his tone a bit firmer. The subvocal back-and-forth he and I had just shared had only taken a second, if even that, and Evony didn’t appear to have noticed the slight hesitation. “We all need to look out for one another, because we don’t know for sure what we’re going to face. We could be attacked the second we’re beyond the barrier created by Miles Odekirk’s device, or somewhere out on the highway. We could make it all the way to Los Alamos, succeed in taking the scientist…and still be ambushed on the way back here. Many, many things could go wrong. You have never seen the djinn in battle, and I sincerely pray you never will. But if it comes to that…you would do well to have someone looking out for you.”

Evony paled slightly. Jace had never raised his voice, had sounded calm and unruffled during this entire speech, but his meaning struck home nonetheless. In fact, it scared me more than I wanted to admit. Unlike Evony, I’d seen with my own eyes the beginnings of one of those attacks — the swirling darkness, the feeling of utter oppression. What it would be like once it got close enough to be personal…well, that was something I’d prefer to avoid.

The group that had attacked Clay and Aidan and Martine had been small, only ten or so, according to Aidan. Our own expedition would have twice that many djinn, and an equal number of us humans. I hoped that would be enough. Because if the djinn came against us with the sort of force I’d seen swirling in the heavens over Taos just the morning before….

It was my turn to shudder.

“Okay,” Evony said, her tone quite altered. Now she sounded shaken, as she should be. “I’ll talk to Lauren and Dani, see if he’s okay with playing babysitter for me. But I’m going either way,” she added with a flash of her old defiance.

“As you must,” Jace replied. “Although I’m fairly certain Dani will be more than happy to make sure you come to no harm.”

Jace was right about that — both Dani and Lauren agreed that if Evony insisted on coming, then he should stand in as her djinn, since Natila was now lost to her. And after that, the preparations moved ahead faster than I would have thought possible.

We’d leave that evening soon after the sun set, since going in under cover of darkness seemed to have a slightly higher chance of success than just strolling in with the sun blazing overhead. Ten vehicles, each with two humans and two djinn, except Dani’s SUV, which would also carry Evony. As much firepower as we could scrounge within the mile radius of our current safe zone. That actually turned out to be a lot more than I would have thought, but it seemed as if almost every household we visited had at least a rifle or a shotgun. There was good hunting in the countryside around Taos.

“And will this actually help?” I asked, my tone dubious, as I hefted the shotgun Jace had set aside for me. “I mean, we’re not exactly hunting rabbits.”

He didn’t smile. “Bullets will not kill a djinn, but they can slow them down. Hit them enough times, and they’ll be forced to retreat so they can heal. Of course, when they do come back, they’ll be angrier than ever, but….”

I got the point. If you were going to pump a djinn full of shotgun shells, you’d better make damn sure you were safely back within range of one of Miles Odekirk’s squirrelly little boxes before that djinn came after you, breathing fire.

Literally.

Still, it meant we had more of a fighting chance than I’d originally thought. And it wasn’t that far to Los Alamos. An hour and a half, maybe two, depending on the road conditions. Luckily, it hadn’t snowed for quite a while now, so the highways should be clear enough. And once we were there….

After Jace and I had loaded our stuff into the big quad-cab truck we were using as the lead vehicle, we went to address the troops.

“There used to be a checkpoint on 502, at the bottom of the hill below Los Alamos,” I said, facing the assembled djinn and humans who made up the strike team. We had gathered in the restaurant, since it had the most available space. Even Zahrias’ borrowed conference room would have been strained to the gills to hold that many people. “But since we took one of their devices, that means their protected area is smaller, so they would have had to fall back a good deal. Jasreel and I went over the maps, and our best guess is that the first place they can set up an effective barrier is a little farther in, on Trinity Road. But….”

“But we’ve been analyzing maps of the area, and we’ve found that there’s a better way, one we feel will probably not be as well-guarded,” Jace went on. “This is Highway 4, which winds to the south of the labs. In fact, there is a road that cuts off from the highway, one that actually goes straight to the lab facility. We may encounter some resistance there, but probably less than we would on a frontal approach.”

Well, that was more or less wishful thinking on both my and Jace’s parts, since I hadn’t even known about Highway 4 — aka Jemez Mountain Road — the entire time I was living in Los Alamos. I’d never heard of anyone getting guard duty out there, but that didn’t mean much. The town still kept many of its secrets, chief among them being where exactly Miles Odekirk had his main research lab. I’d spoken to him once in a conference room somewhere on the laboratory campus, and broken Jace out from where he was being held in yet another building, but I’d gotten the impression that the scientist did his main work elsewhere.

Which meant we’d have to do some scouting once we were on the property, and all that scouting would have to be done by the humans in the party, since by that point we’d be in the protected area, and our djinn wouldn’t be of much use. Jace had already told me he was coming along, and I didn’t bother to protest. He was the most functional of all of them, and he had at least been at the labs. The rest of the djinn would stay with the vehicles, just beyond the perimeter of the Los Alamos safe zone. That is, except for Dani. He, too, insisted on coming along, since Evony was his responsibility. It appeared the djinn took those sorts of things seriously — well, at least the honorable djinn. I doubted whether this Khalim, the elemental who appeared to be the leader of the rogue djinn, would be too concerned about honoring an oath.

“Let them resist,” said Evony. Her hand rested on the pistol she now wore in a holster on her hip. “I wouldn’t mind a little payback.”

A murmur of assent rose from the crowd, and at once Jace lifted his hand.

“This is not about vengeance,” he said. “Yes, this Miles Odekirk and the man he works for, Richard Margolis, are responsible for taking one of our own from us. But our true reason for going is to make sure we have the one person in our possession who can alter this device he created, make it so we can live safely here without being robbed of our powers. Understood?”

He looked so stern as he said this that a little thrill went through me. Maybe it was simply that his profile was to me, and so I could admire the fine lines of his strong nose and chin, the way his raven-dark hair flowed back from his brow. But I wasn’t sure. This was a side of him he rarely revealed; most of the time, he was gentle, calm. The Jace I watched now —
Jasreel
— he seemed like someone who would put you through a wall without batting an eye.

The message appeared to get through; there was some murmuring, but most of the djinn and their Chosen nodded. After all, it was in their best interests to make sure this all went as smoothly as possible. Otherwise, they’d be doomed to a half-life of hiding here in Taos, suffering as more and more of their strength was taken from them with every passing day.

Even Evony didn’t offer any protest, and actually nodded slightly, although I noticed she didn’t move her hand, which still rested on the holster at her hip. This was an angle I hadn’t even thought of until now — unlike the rest of us, she didn’t have any real vested interest in making sure we got Miles Odekirk safely back to Taos. Her djinn lover was gone, and maybe she didn’t care one way or another whether the rest of the djinn suffered the effects of the scientist’s device or not.

Well, I couldn’t think of any graceful way to make her stay behind. Not this late in the game. Dani had already promised Jace and me that he would keep an eye on her. I’d have to hope that “eye” included making sure she didn’t cause any sabotage of her own.

Now, though, the sun was almost below the horizon. In less than an hour, we’d be setting out with only some Triple-A maps we’d scrounged from the concierge desk to guide us. No more days of having satellite-guided navigation direct you from Point A to Point B. We’d have to do this on our own.

And it would be dark…very dark. Right then I questioned the wisdom of doing this at night. True, the darkness would prevent the Los Alamos people from seeing us coming, but driving in the dark seemed to be giving the rogue djinn an open invitation to pick us off at their leisure.

I almost began to say something, but then I looked out at the forty people gathered there in the dining room. Human and djinn, with every hair color ranging from jet black to palest blonde, all beautiful in their own way. All tense, yet determined. They were ready to go now. And delaying another night would only weaken our djinn that much more.