Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: Shadowmaster\Running with Wolves (18 page)

“Are you a complete idiot?” Brita said in an undertone. “Didn't they tell you to expect me?”

“Let me up!” Phoenix gasped as Brita slowly removed her foot.

“You've nearly ruined everything,” Brita said, showing the pointed teeth she'd been so careful to conceal before.

“You mean your mission?” Phoenix asked. “Because I was told—”

“That I was supposed to help you.
If
my own mission wouldn't be compromised. I've believed you were an Aegis operative from the moment we made that agreement, and I had my suspicions the first time we met.”

“But you didn't bother to tell me?”

“I wasn't supposed to make contact with any other operatives they sent out. Not until I'd found as many Opir spies as I could.”

“You mean you were sent by Aegis on the same job I was?”

“Not quite. They really didn't tell you anything, did they?”

“The director didn't have clearance, and she didn't tell me what she knew until I was about to return.”

“Stupid. I would have sacrificed you without a thought if I believed you'd endanger what I've already achieved.”

“Then why did they send me at all?”

Brita shrugged. “I have no idea. When you went back to Aegis, you didn't tell them he was the assassin, did you?”

So Brita
did
know, Phoenix thought. And she rightly assumed Phoenix did, as well.

“No,” she said slowly.

“That was smart. It could have complicated things even more on this end.”

“How did you know I'd found out?”

“As close as you and Drakon had become, I figured you'd learn the truth sooner or later.” She grimaced. “All the time I worked for him, starting around the time he became a Boss, I never guessed he was the assassin. I didn't know his real name. I was ready to expose the other spies I'd found...until you arrived, and I learned the truth about him.”

“How?”

“It doesn't matter now. But I realized soon after you slept with him that he was going to make mistakes. And that would be to my advantage.”

Phoenix swallowed. “So you really aren't in love with him?”

Brita laughed. “Not at all.”

“But you went out of your way to show me the good in him. Why?”

“I needed to see how you'd respond. Just like all those tests and traps I set for you, telling you your story had already checked out. I still didn't know how you'd fit in, or what I should do with you if you became a problem. And Drakon
did
save my life once. For a while, I thought I could—” She shook her head. “When he took Matthew Patterson, I had to change my plans.”

“So why didn't
you
take Patterson back to the Enforcers?”

“I wasn't ready to expose myself, and I'd realized your connection with Drakon was the best way to stop him.”

Phoenix let the obvious question pass. “You're dhampir, aren't you?” she asked.

Brita stepped back, letting Phoenix climb to her feet. “Not quite,” she said. “My father was a Bloodlord. My Daysider mother sought refuge in the city when the Enclave needed accurate intelligence about the Nightsiders. I was born here.”

“You mean Opiri can produce children?” Phoenix asked, stunned by the revelation. “Does Aegis know—”

“You think even Aegis knows everything?” She laughed again. “I'm a freak, you see. I have my mother's immunity to sunlight, and my father's ability to see at night. And I look human. All very handy for an agent.”

“Where do you get your blood?”

“The same way Drakon does, though I wouldn't mind taking it by more direct means.”

“Why does Drakon look human, too?” Phoenix asked, testing Brita as
she
had been tested.

“No time for more questions now,” Brita said. “The only reason I've told you so much was to make sure you know I'm on your side. I have a vital task for you. One only you can carry out.”

“I wasn't told you were to give the orders.”

“I got you back, didn't I?” Her eyes narrowed. “Or are you really willing to turn traitor because you love someone who could destroy our civilization?”

“But he's not going through with the assassination.”

Brita laughed contemptuously. “Did you think he'd turn against his own kind just for your sake?”

She's lying,
Phoenix thought.
She has to be
. Drakon wouldn't do that. Not now. Not after all the things he'd said.

“He's been lying to me,” Phoenix said bitterly, hoping she sounded convincing. “I thought I was seducing
him,
but he must have guessed who I really was all along.”

“Oh,” Brita said, “I'm not denying that there's something between you, on both sides. It's just not what you think it is.”

“You said he'd make mistakes because of me.”

“You're a distraction. That's enough.”

“But he must have a reason for wanting me out of the city.”

“And you don't know what that is?”

“I have no idea. He said he was going to let Matthew go after the files were read and then pretend to hold me hostage until we got out of the city. He was supposed to have everything prepared.”

“Drakon isn't going to meet the senator now,” Brita said. “Matthew Patterson is already gone, off to expose his own father.”

“I don't believe you,” Phoenix said, backing away. “Matthew would never—”

“You'd be surprised,” Brita said. “But that's not at issue here. I'm going to need you to use the bond between you and Drakon, and hope it's enough.”

“To stop him from killing Shepherd? After all you've said, you think I can do that?”

“I said he wasn't going to betray his own people. But his plans have changed.” Brita squinted up at the sun. “Right now he's on a certain rooftop at a perfect vantage point overlooking the meeting, armed with a high-powered sniper's rifle.

“He doesn't plan to ruin Senator Patterson. He plans to kill him.”

Chapter 18

D
rakon had taken cover on the roof of a tall apartment building just to the south of Old Market Street, crouched in the shadow of the stairwell bulkhead. From here he could see across the city as far as the rough borderland of the Fringe, where the exchange was to take place.

He had checked the rifle over a dozen times, taken it apart and put it back together, cleaned every last speck of dust from every surface and component, made certain that there could be no question of optimum performance.

Even at this distance, he might have taken Patterson out. Only the finest marksmen in the world could possibly manage it, and there would be a high risk of failure.

But it wasn't Patterson he was focusing on. He was situated on the
“right”
side of Market, in the better part of the Mids just below the Nobs, where Cits were going about their daily business. There was a definite edge of nervous excitement in the air, a sense of something momentous about to happen.

That was how he had made it this far into the Mids before dawn. Nearly all the city's security, its common police and Enforcers and Aegis, were concentrated in two locations: the mayor's Capitol apartments, and the place where fully a quarter of the senators would be waiting to see Matthew Patterson returned to his father.

And quite possibly witness Senator Patterson's downfall.

Drakon had done all he could to ensure the success of that venture. Matthew had proven to be quite a surprise, reacting with horror to what he'd seen in the files. He'd expressed a desire to seek some way to find peace by different means than had been tried so far, and, in spite of his previous behavior, he had proven to be both reasonable and mature for his age and occupation.

But Drakon couldn't be sure that the young man would go through with the plan to confront his father and urge him to face the consequences of his former heinous acts. It was still quite possible that Matthew had deceived Drakon all along, or would be
“rescued”
before he could read the pertinent records, though the young Enforcer had agreed to let his father believe there were snipers ready to kill him if he failed.

Holding the rifle as close as he would an infant, Drakon closed his eyes and breathed deeply, in and out and in and out, as he had learned during his specialist training in the Force. But as much as he tried to keep his mind clear, it wouldn't stay that way. Phoenix's face was always before his eyes, smiling at him, kissing him, trusting him. Loving him.

By now Repo would have taken her out of the city. If Brita had managed to do her part, she would have arranged to leave the mayor vulnerable for a few precious minutes, though how she would achieve such a miracle Drakon couldn't imagine. Once she had raised the panels and managed to get the mayor into position, not even the supposedly bulletproof glass could save Shepherd. The Enforcers had a handful of prototype firearms the senators didn't even know about, and one of them was in Drakon's hands.

Whether she succeeded or not, Drakon had already prepared himself for what would follow. He had told Brita he wouldn't be returning to Erebus. He'd told Phoenix that they would find some way to live outside the Enclave, facing the dangers of the Zone together.

But he wouldn't be leaving this city. If he was unable to kill the mayor today, he'd try to hide long enough to get to Shepherd another way. Or, if not him, then Patterson. Brita planned to focus all her efforts on learning the location of the laboratory creating the biological weapon, but
his
odds of getting anywhere near the source were virtually nil.

Leaning back, he waited. The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness. By 11:00 a.m., he knew the reception committee would be gathering at the appointed place. He tried again not to think of what would happen there, or the fact that Patterson might find himself spared the airing of his flagrant repudiation of the very law he claimed to serve.

It would be only a temporary reprieve.

Sweat trickling over his forehead, Drakon wiped at his face with his sleeve. He'd put on his heaviest clothing, knowing he'd be exposed to the sun for anywhere from twenty seconds to several minutes. He should survive the burns, though the previous ones had just healed.

But the shadow cast by the bulkhead was growing thin. The timing had to be perfect in every way.

As noon approached, he turned his attention to the Capitol building. He knew exactly what to look for—the precise moment when Brita gave the signal. A brief flash of reflection. A second for her to drop to the ground.

The sound of someone climbing the stairs inside the bulkhead sent him spinning to face the door. It opened, and he caught a scent so familiar and beloved that he was momentarily too stunned to move.

“Drakon?” Phoenix called softly.

Running at a crouch, he reached the door, grabbed her and yanked her down to the concrete beside him. He pulled her back into the scant shade around the corner and held her arm in a desperate grip.

“How did you get here?” he asked. “You were supposed to—”

“Be outside the Wall,” she said, her breath coming short. “I know that was what you planned.” She didn't try to break free of his hold but scanned the area around them, taking in the vantage point and the meeting place a little over a half-mile away.

“Brita was right,” she said.

Drakon pulled Phoenix around to face him. “What do you mean, Brita was right?” he asked.

“She knows you're the assassin, Drakon,” Phoenix said.

He was too stunned by her presence to pretend to be surprised. “And she
told
you I was here?”

“She told me where to find you after she helped me get away from Repo and the others you ordered to take me out of the city.” She met his gaze without anger or reproach, only with deep sadness. “You didn't trust me.”

Fury burned through Drakon's body like the sunlight. “Damn it, I wanted you safe!”

“Because you always intended to do this.”

He shook his head, fighting a wave of dizziness. The sunlight, reflecting off the metal and windows of surrounding buildings, was beginning to affect him. He pulled her closer still, catching her face between his hands.

“Yes,” he said, “Brita has been working with me. But she always expected me to go through with it. I was going to quit, but then she told me—”

“Drakon, you can't do this.”

Brita had sent Pheonix here, Drakon thought, even as she was setting up the mayor's assassination. She'd deliberately put Phoenix in terrible danger.

“I found out she was a double agent, Drakon,” Phoenix said. “I just didn't know which side she was really on. But when she told me where you'd gone, I chose to believe that she really was on our side.”

Our side,
Drakon thought, shaking his head. Brita, his
“sister,”
a double agent.

Eyes moist with anguish, Phoenix touched his cheek with her fingertip. “She was never your loyal lieutenant, Drakon. She's been an Aegis operative since long before she joined you. She was hunting for Opiri spies before we even knew there might be an assassin planning to kill the mayor.”

Drakon burst into choked laughter. “You
knew
this?”

“Not until I returned from talking to the director. She told me to watch out for a deep-cover agent in the Fringe who might be able to help me. Brita revealed herself to me and said she had been about to expose the others just before I—”

“Stop.” He looked away, sick with heat and rage and despair. “I don't know what Brita thought she had to gain by sending you here. But you're wrong.” He met her gaze again. “Phoenix, she's more than my lieutenant. Her Opir father was my Sire. She's been working alongside me from the beginning, pretending to serve your side while gathering information for ours. We discussed the need to take Shepherd out...yes, even after I promised you I wouldn't do it. And I wasn't planning to. But we discovered something that changed those plans. And I had to keep you safe, no matter—”

“So you're saying she was only half lying to me,” Phoenix said. “Telling me what I wanted to hear. If so, she must have done very well in deceiving my superiors.” She glanced around again, scanning the skies as if she expected a sudden onslaught of black Enforcer helicopters, and looked back at Drakon. “I don't think you're lying about your relationship with her. I've known almost from the beginning that she wasn't human.”

“You knew that, too?” Drakon asked bitterly. “And yet you—”

“I discovered Brita wasn't human when she met with one of The Preacher's men just outside the Hold.”

“She what?” Drakon snapped.

“She turned down his offer to join The Preacher's crew. But when I confronted her, she claimed I was a spy for Aegis, and not quite human myself. We promised that neither of us would expose the other.”

Drakon leaned back against the bulkhead again and closed his eyes. He should have been shocked, but he felt nothing. He knew where Brita's real loyalties lay.

But why hadn't she told him? Why hadn't she shared what she'd learned with him, so that they could take full advantage of the enemy's intelligence?

If he had been deceived so easily, how could he fault Phoenix for believing Brita?

Drakon inhaled sharply. Was it possible that she really didn't want the mayor dead after all? Had she only pretended all along, never intending Drakon to go through with the assassination?

It wasn't possible, Drakon thought. If she'd wanted to stop Drakon, she could have done it a hundred different ways before he'd reached this rooftop.

He blinked sweat out of his eyes. Brita hadn't told Phoenix about the pathogen, or Phoenix would have mentioned it. Whatever her former loyalties, she'd have been horrified.

Unaware of his racing thoughts, Phoenix pulled his hands away from her face. “You lied to me, Drakon,” she said softly, squeezing his fingers. “But it's not too late. No revenge is worth what this will do to you even if you get away afterward.”

“Phoenix—” Drakon began, barely able to speak.

“We need to leave, now, and get you to shelter. Then we're getting out of the city, just as we planned.”

He checked his watch. Eleven-thirty. Almost no time left.

“I didn't come to kill Patterson,” he said. “I've come to remove a man who's helping to create a biological weapon that could kill every Opir who comes in contact with it.”

Phoenix stared at him, a look of blank incomprehension in her eyes. “A weapon?” she said. “The mayor?”

Resisting the urge to shake her as he wished someone would shake him, he gripped her shoulders. “Brita didn't tell you, did she?”

“No,” Phoenix said slowly. “Everyone has been lying. You, me, Brita, Shepherd, Patterson. Everyone.” She pushed Drakon away. “Shepherd would never be a party to something like that, whatever he's done in the past. But I don't understand why she would tell you to—” Understanding swept across her face. “Drakon, she's set you up. Maybe she thought I could succeed, but if I don't, she's going to send people up here after you.”

“I don't know why she said I was after Patterson or told you to come here,” he said, “but you have to go. If you leave immediately, you can return to the Fringe. You can make up some story about trying to save Matthew and being incapacitated while I escaped before the meeting.”

“You should know by now,” Phoenix said gravely, “that no matter what Brita said, I'm not leaving here without you.”

“Patterson is working with your mayor. Would you stand by while they create an illegal and devastating weapon?”

Phoenix shivered, looking genuinely shaken. “Do you have any proof but Brita's word? If Shepherd and Patterson are actually working together on something like that, killing either or both of them won't stop it. Others must be involved.”

Her sensible words were convincing, but Drakon knew far better than she what they were facing. “Once news of this gets out of the Enclave,” he said, “Erebus will—”

“Attack first? And then we'll have the new war so many on both sides seem to want.” Her voice thickened with tears. “Don't you see? You wanted Patterson's sins aired in public. Maybe they will be, maybe they won't. But Aegis doesn't know I'm any kind of
traitor
yet. I can go back and look for evidence of this weapon. There will be ways to expose it to the public, bring it to the attention of other senators—”

“Many of whom will support it.” He looked into her eyes, hardening his heart against everything he had ever felt for her. “And since Brita is still apparently trusted by Aegis and has already lied to you, she could turn on you in a heartbeat if she thought it would serve her—our—cause.”

“Neither of us can trust her, Drakon,” she said.

Drakon set his jaw. “There is nothing you can do, and nothing more to discuss.” He glanced around the bulkhead at the Capitol building. “If you ever felt anything for me, find Repo and tell him my orders stand. He'll get you out.”

But he knew, as soon as she'd finished speaking, that she'd never go.

“Phoenix,” he said.

She looked at him, weary and bewildered.

“Come here,” he said gently.

She edged closer to him, a wariness in her eyes that cut him to the quick. He opened his arms, and she fell into them, holding on to him so hard that his ribs protested and he grunted with surprise. He kissed her, and she responded desperately. So many times it happened this way—in desperation, in haste, in fear of some terrible, inevitable loss.

“No one's watching this building,” she whispered into his neck. “We still have time to leave without being caught.” She pulled back, her eyes dry but filled with the ferocity he knew burned beneath the facade of calm composure. “I choose to trust you, Drakon, over everyone else in this world, no matter what you've done. Will you trust me the same way?”