djinn wars 04 - broken (6 page)

So many questions. But she wasn’t here to simply satisfy her idle curiosity.

She pulled the Suburban into one of the spots in front of the U.S. Marshals’ building, a handsome stone structure with a sort of obelisk standing guard out front. For some reason she’d been expecting a modern glass building, but she should have known nothing so out of place would have been allowed near Santa Fe’s historic downtown.

As soon as everyone got out of the SUV, the front doors to the building opened, and Zahrias and a man Julia didn’t recognize emerged. Not that she really had eyes for anyone except the djinn leader. He wore his usual garb of an open silk robe over his full silken pants, that robe revealing the sculpted muscles of his chest and stomach.

Julia swallowed, then lifted her head and approached him and his party, while her own companions trailed along behind her. Vanity had made her touch up the light cosmetics she wore and make sure her hair was brushed, but if she’d changed out of the jeans and T-shirt and leather jacket she was wearing earlier that afternoon, someone might have noticed. Besides, she doubted that Zahrias cared what she looked like.

“Welcome,” he said. “Was it a smooth journey?”

“Yes, thank you,” she replied. Somehow his formality made this first encounter after so many months a little easier. “Clear roads all the way.”

At that moment, Miles nudged his way forward, Lindsay at his elbow. “I’d like to see the cell — ”

Something that might have been a hint of a smile pulled at the corner of Zahrias’ mouth. “Of course, Dr. Odekirk. Let us show you.” He turned toward Julia. “It is rather confined down there, however, so if some of your people could remain up here — ”

“Sure,” she said. “Miles and Lindsay can come with us, and everyone else can keep an eye on the Suburban.”

One of the djinn’s eyebrows lifted. “I assure you, your vehicle is quite safe here.”

“I’m sure it is,” she replied, trying to ignore the unwelcome thrill that went through her as Zahrias’ dark eyes met hers. “But it’ll give them something to do.”

Brent Sanderson shot her the side-eye at that remark, but he didn’t say anything, and Nancy and Eric seemed content to stand on the steps and watch the sun set. So Julia followed Zahrias inside as his sole companion fell in with them.

“This is David,” the djinn leader said, indicating the mortal who was with him, an extremely good-looking man of about twenty-five, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. “He was the one on duty when Margolis disappeared.”

David obviously wasn’t too happy to be introduced that way. His jaw tightened, and he gave a reluctant nod. “I was gone a minute, max.”

“I don’t think anyone’s blaming you,” Julia said, making sure she sounded calm and composed, even though part of her wanted to scream at him for going to take a bathroom break and thus giving Margolis the opening he needed.

They took the elevator —the electricity in Santa Fe seemed to be functioning normally, with none of the rationing her people were forced to use in Los Alamos — and descended several floors. Julia was beginning to wonder just how deeply the jail cell in question was buried when the elevator finally stopped and its doors opened on a bleak hallway painted institutional gray.

“This way,” Zahrias said, leading them to a short corridor that terminated in a single chamber.

Looking at it, Julia couldn’t help but be reminded of Hannibal Lecter’s cell in
The Silence of the Lambs
— this room was also fronted by glass, not bars, and larger than she’d imagined. The similarity ended there, however, because otherwise it looked sleek and modern, the bed with its flat mattress somehow attached to one wall, the basin and toilet set up in the same way. On the bed was a thick abandoned paperback, although she couldn’t make out the title from where she stood.

On the wall next to the cell was a panel with a few blinking lights and a surface of smooth black glass. She guessed that must be the biometric scanner.

Miles went to it at once, then put his thumb on the glass. The cell door opened smoothly.

“Hey,” David said in injured tones. “I thought only Zahrias or one of us four guards could open that thing.”

“I programmed my thumbprint into it when I was testing the device,” Miles responded, sounding somewhat testy.

Despite the situation, Julia couldn’t help grinning. “Well, mystery solved. Miles did it.”

Zahrias shook his head, as if to show that he wasn’t amused by her comment, and Miles said indignantly, “I most certainly did not. I was working in my lab, thirty-five miles away from here. Lindsay can attest to that fact.”

Lindsay looked like she was trying to stifle her own grin. “I think she was kidding, Miles.”

“That is not something you should joke about.” He narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and then transferred his attention to Zahrias. “At any rate, it seems the biometric scanner is working normally. Let us inspect the door mechanism. Lindsay, if you could — ”

She moved forward at his gesture. “What do you need?”

“I’m going to open and close the door several more times, using the biometric scanner. Keep an eye out for anything that looks out of alignment, indicating that the door might have been tampered with.”

She nodded, then crossed her arms and waited while Miles engaged the scanner once more. The cell door slid open smoothly. Julia couldn’t see anything wrong with it, but she’d be the first to admit that she was no expert.

“I’m not noticing anything,” Lindsay said after this operation was performed several more times.

“Neither am I.” Miles pushed his glasses up on his nose and turned back to the watching group. “So if the door wasn’t tampered with, then the most logical explanation is that Captain Margolis had an accomplice of some kind.”

“If you’re suggesting — ” David spluttered, hands balling into fists as he shot an angry glare at the scientist.

Julia hoped that Zahrias would contain the situation, because David looked like he could pound Miles into the ground like a tent stake. Apparently the djinn leader was having the same thought, because he stepped forward and said sternly, “That is a theory I cannot support. All of the guards, both human and djinn, who were set to watch over Margolis owed their loyalty only to this community. They would have no reason to do such a thing.”

During the confrontation, Lindsay had said nothing, apparently confident that Zahrias wouldn’t let matters get too out of hand. Julia remembered that Lindsay had spent a good deal of time around him, since she had been Chosen back then and had lived with the djinn community for months. She must have had a fairly accurate idea of what Zahrias would and would not put up with.

Now she said, “All right, maybe not any of the guards, but what about someone else here in Santa Fe? Maybe they could have reprogrammed the lock.”

“Who?” Zahrias inquired, looking almost amused. “You lived among us for some time, Lindsay. You were the only one of our Chosen with any true scientific or mechanical aptitude. Perhaps you would have the skill to do such a thing, but can you say the same of any of your former compatriots?”

She hesitated, then shook her head. “No. And actually, I don’t think even I could have done it. That is, I watched Miles set it up, so maybe now I could manage the job, but before that, trying to figure it out on my own?” Her shoulders lifted. “No way.”

“So does that put us back to square one?” Julia asked. Frustration had seeped into her tone, but right then she didn’t much care.

“No,” Miles said, returning his attention to the cell. “The answer has to be here somewhere.”

“And if anyone can find it, you will,” Zahrias said. “But we are coming to the time of our evening meal, and perhaps this is something you can revisit in the morning. Surely you would like to be shown where you will be staying tonight.”

“Later,” Miles replied with an irritated wave of his hand. Lindsay looked exasperated, but clearly she knew better than to bother contradicting him. “Have someone bring us a tray or something.”

Once again Zahrias’ mouth quirked. “If that is your wish. But surely the rest of your party should be accommodated — ”

“Yes, thank you,” Julia put in quickly, before Miles could start making decisions for the rest of the team. “I don’t want to interrupt the other three guards if they’re having dinner, but if I could talk to them tomorrow morning?”

“Of course. That was already my plan.”

She should have thought of that. Yes, she needed to speak with them, but making them delay their evening meal or otherwise interrupt their evening wouldn’t put Margolis back in his cell. Those conversations could wait a few hours.

Besides, her stomach was reminding her that she hadn’t really eaten lunch today, only a few slices of toast and half an apple around ten in the morning. Best to let Miles continue with his investigation — although she doubted he would turn up anything — while the rest of them got something to eat.

“Thank you, Zahrias,” she said. “Then please, show us where we’ll be staying.”

He had chosen the La Fonda hotel because of its central location and because he knew Julia and several of her party were familiar with it. They seemed more than pleased with the group of rooms he had secured for them, and perhaps a little surprised that they should be ready on such short notice.

“I really wasn’t expecting this,” Julia told him as the hard-faced blonde woman who had accompanied her went into the room she’d been assigned — accompanied by a trim, compact man whose calm, appraising eyes told Zahrias he was not quite as innocuous as he seemed. A warrior, like the woman he was with. Nancy, that was what Julia had called her.

“It is the least we could do,” Zahrias said. It was more difficult than he’d thought, to stand here next to her and force himself not to gaze too long at the fullness of her mouth, or the way the light seemed to shimmer along the lengths of her unbound hair. She was dressed plainly, but the slightly oversized leather jacket she wore couldn’t quite hide the curves of her body. “You would not have had to come here at all, were it not for our negligence.”

“That might be a bit harsh — ” she began, but he shook his head.

“Yes, negligence, even if it was not intentional. These days we do not dine in a group, as we did back in Taos, but Phillip has come here to the hotel to prepare a meal for you so you may all eat in the dining room downstairs.”

Julia nodded. Was that a flicker of disappointment he saw in her clear blue-gray eyes, the color of the morning sky just before the sun rose? No, he must be imagining things. He could see no reason why she would be disappointed to be so accommodated, unless…

…unless she had wished to dine with him alone.

He pushed that thought aside. There could be nothing between them. She had her duty to the people of Los Alamos, just as he had his duty to the djinn and Chosen who lived in Santa Fe.

“That sounds wonderful, Zahrias,” she said. “Thank you.”

Her words sounded sincere enough, but he noted the briefest of hesitations before she spoke. From the very first time he’d met her, he had sensed something about Julia that was almost too controlled, as if she had to measure every word and every deed before she spoke or acted. Now she seemed even more restrained. Was that because of the situation they now found themselves in…or because she was having a difficult time being around him once again?

If it was the latter possibility, he could understand her restraint all too well, for he found himself holding back, knowing they had never shared one word that could not be safely overheard by another. He wanted her, but he would not allow himself to have her — even if she wanted him just as fiercely.

“You are more than welcome,” he said, knowing as he spoke that he sounded too stiff, too formal. But what else could he do? “I will leave you now, so that you may settle yourselves before dinner, but I will come for you in the morning so you may speak with the other guards. I assume that the tenth hour of the morning would not be too early?”

“Not too early at all.” A flicker of a smile played around her mouth, and Zahrias had to force himself not to stare at her lips, so full, so soft. “I’m usually up hours before that.”

“I will see you then.” He bowed slightly, then turned away and strode off down the corridor toward the elevator. That contraption was not his destination, however; he merely wished to be out of sight before he used his powers to transport himself from the hotel to the library in the house he now occupied. For some reason, he did not wish Julia to see him disappear in such a way, for it would only reinforce how very different they were from one another.

Zahrias did not quite wish to ponder why that fact should bother him so much.

“He’s an odd one, isn’t he?” Brent Sanderson remarked.

Julia sat with Brent because Nancy and Eric had paired themselves off at a table for two over in the corner, clearly not wanting to squander this rare chance for a romantic meal together, and Miles and Lindsay were still nowhere to be found. Julia had to hope they’d eat something at some point, but she supposed that wasn’t her problem. They were grown adults, and she wasn’t their babysitter.

Anyway, the food was amazing. Julia didn’t know how Phillip had managed to throw together stuffed quail and rice and steamed fall vegetables, accompanied by the kind of fresh-baked bread she hadn’t tasted since the world ended, but she wouldn’t argue with the end result.

If only she could have shared it with someone other than Brent.

Not that she didn’t like Brent. She liked him very much. He was a good man, and an important part of the Los Alamos community. But he was certainly no Zahrias.

“Well,” she said, making sure she sounded as unconcerned as possible, “he
is
a djinn, after all.”

“True.” Brent sipped some of his wine, looking as if he wanted to grimace but wouldn’t allow himself to. She had a feeling he was more a beer guy, but of course Phillip would never dream of allowing someone to drink a Budweiser with one of his finely crafted meals and had served a truly lovely pinot noir from the hotel’s cellars to accompany their dinner. “Maybe that’s it. I haven’t really been around them much — just that little bit in the spring when Margolis dragged us all over here. Although the one Jessica is with seems like a nice guy.”