Secret Worlds (491 page)

She has to see.
His mind tried to spin away to what would happen if she didn’t, and his chest clenched, panic taking his breath.
Focus, Alex.

He stood, watching Daniel Gracey now from the corner of his eye as he dusted off his knees. The young man was quite an adroit actor, although his emotions were probably real this time.

Lena’s brother stood behind Merritt looking down at his sister in horror. He sobbed in great silent heaves, tears and snot flowing freely down his face.

That’s right,
he urged the young man’s emotions on silently,
think about how you’ve betrayed your sister and the memory of your father. You betrayed your dead mother, too, and everything they ever asked of you.

Instead of giving voice to his thoughts, he simply growled, “Get over here, Gracey, and make yourself useful.”

Danny looked up and took the few shuddering steps over. He managed to get out, “This isn’t what I wanted.”

“I don’t give a shit.” He waited for it to sink in. It was the truth. “Now, pick her up. You can carry her back to the Councilor. We’ll see what he wants us to do with her.”

It was needlessly cruel, especially considering the true circumstances. He had no intention of allowing the Councilor to decide to do anything with her, but his people knew he couldn’t abide stupidity. Danny approaching Alex directly about his sister qualified.

The kid stared at him. He looked down at his sister and then back up. He made a feeble gesture with his hand. “But…the current. I don’t have any of those gloves.”

“And you barely rate as a Spark.” Merritt moved closer, threatening. “It’ll hurt, but you won’t be incapacitated. Pick her up. Now.”

The muted sound of rapid footsteps falling on packed earth had both Alex and Merritt straightening. Alex had sent a message to Jackson before he and Merritt had taken Danny to see Three. He’d hoped Jackson might beat them here, so Lena would at least have notice of what was coming and steel herself for it. It hadn’t happened. Jackson had been too slow. There’d been no warning for her.

Jackson rounded the edge of the car now and skidded to a stop, his focus going immediately to Lena on the ground. He froze. Panic and fear flared across his face. His blurted words, a shocked, “What are you doing?” made Alex silently curse him.

“Agent Lee,” he snapped, “pull yourself together.”

Jackson managed to recover, dragging his shocked stare from the collar around her neck. “Did you need me to transport her, sir?” he managed.

“No,” Merritt answered for Alex. “Her brother was about to do that for us. Since he’s the one who brought her to our attention, it’s his privilege to carry her into custody. Isn’t it, Mr. Gracey?”

Jackson glared at Danny, an obvious flare of fury.

Merritt’s face tightened. The man’s speculative eyes met Alex’s.

“Find her papers, Lee,” Alex told him, gesturing up to the car. “Then meet us in the Councilor’s car.”

Jackson nodded, keeping his face down. His attention flickered between the ground and the collar.

Really, Jackson? You think you’re the only one disgusted by the need for this? You’re not even the one involved with her, but your inability to control yourself has put her at risk!
He cursed Jackson as Danny lifted his sister. He and the young agent would have a few things to straighten out once Alex had pulled their asses out of the fire and this was all over.

***

By the time they made it to the Councilor’s car, Alex had already revised the spur-of-the-moment plan. Merritt would make his suspicions about Jackson known to Three as soon as he could, casting doubt on Alex himself, since he had lobbied for Jackson to be his second. Without Three’s trust in his leadership, their route might be changed, the security plan might be tweaked. Any number of small but significant changes could be made which might jeopardize the entire operation. They’d have to move the op up. They’d have to make it happen now.

“Don’t put her on my furniture!” The Councilor’s baritone command set his teeth on edge. “She might lose control of her bowels and soil it.” Three made outraged shooing motions at Danny, urging him to pick up his incapacitated sister. “Put her over there, on the floor, away from the carpets. The floor can be scrubbed.”

Alex snapped his fingers at Danny when the man hesitated. He pointed down to the spot on the floor as he assessed the twilit room.

The Councilor suffered from migraines and kept his own quarters darkened. Heavy drapes on the forward and side windows blocked out the light and prying eyes. It was about as good as he could hope for.

Alex leaned on the arm of the couch as Danny lifted Lena and hauled his sister to the corner to ease her body down. Danny held onto her head for a moment, kissing her forehead before gently settling her back against the floor.

Alex wasn’t surprised. Guilt was a powerful emotion. He should know. He had enough of it coursing through him right now to power all of Azcon.

Three seated himself and ran his hands through his grey hair, his fingers pausing on the patch of black at his hairline. He smoothed it, the motion almost a caress. After a moment, he dropped his hands, and his fingers drummed the cushioned armrest as he looked at Lena, a small, pleased smile quirking his lips. The smile didn’t move the seamed lines of his face, and it didn’t reach his mean eyes.

Beneath the meanness, relief thrummed through the man. Which Councilor was Three so happy not to have to face after losing Lena? It was an academic question. They would find out shortly. Three would tell them everything.

Danny stood in front of Three, his head bowed. “Councilor?” He waited.

Three’s attention turned slowly to his junior aide. The Councilor’s face didn’t lose the smile.

“I know you’ve had doubts, but I have been loyal, sir.” Danny flopped his hand in his sister’s direction, indicating his evidence. “May I ask that you please not kill her?”

“Oh, I have no intention of killing her, Daniel.” The Councilor’s voice was resonant and generous. “We’re simply going to question her, find out where she has been. Who has been hiding her? And then she will pass to the custody of the Council.”

“But….” Danny looked at his sister.

“They won’t kill her, either, Daniel,” Three reassured him.

No
,
they’ll throw her in prison to experiment on her. What’s a little torture to a Spark, after all
?

A quick two-note knock at the metal door sounded. The Councilor called out, “Enter.”

Jackson stepped up into the car. He’d regained his equilibrium. His gaze moved over Lena on the floor with no reaction.

Before the young Agent could speak, the Councilor dismissed Danny. “You should return to your transport, Daniel. We’ll send someone for you if we need your assistance again. And to discuss again what you knew about your sister. And when.”

The young aide had effectively been confined to his bunk.

Danny managed a miserable nod. He stepped over his sister’s leg and around Jackson to leave the car.

After the door slid closed behind Danny, Jackson nodded respectfully at the Councilor and then lifted the papers to show Alex. “Her falsified papers, sir.”

“I’ll take those.” Merritt leaned over and snatched them from Jackson’s hand. He looked them over, fingering the heavy paper and holding it up to a nearby candle to check its translucence. “These are quality forgeries. I can barely tell them apart from authentic ID papers.”

That’s because they are authentic
. Alex sneered internally at the man’s posturing.

“She had help. Experienced help.” Merritt met the Councilor’s questioning look and then turned a considering gaze to Alex.

“Thank you for stating the obvious,” Alex murmured, his voice dry. He tapped his lip as if he was thinking. “Agent Lee, I’d like you to go immediately to the nearest scout position. Inform them they are to make contact with our forward agents and pull back to reinforce us here.”

Jackson’s single nod confirmed he understood what Alex really wanted.

“Do you think that’s necessary?”

“You’re going to send
him
?”

Councilor Three and Merritt spoke at the same time. Alex answered only the Councilor.

“Sir, we may have exposed a larger plot. I can’t risk that she’s part of a sophisticated group intent on removing you. We’ll make camp here tonight to ensure we are off schedule. We don’t want to be where we’re expected to be.” He returned his attention to Jackson. “Why are you still here, Agent Lee?”

Jackson slipped out, hurrying away to the front of the caravan and the electric vehicles meant for speed and tactical response.

Alex turned his gaze to Merritt. “At this point, Councilor, the entire security plan is suspect.” And Merritt had been the one to create it.

Merritt blinked. “You’re not pinning this on me.”

“Oh, no?” Alex just needed to buy time as he focused on releasing his block.

It was time to disable the collar. Lena needed to be a part of this. She had earned it. He had to give her that, after taking so much from her.

“No.”

Before Alex could do more than pull his attention back from the collar, Merritt turned and slammed the door back into its track and jumped from the car. As a Spark in security, albeit a homegrown, locally educated Spark, Merritt was rated for a weapon, if barely. The man jumped away, pulling his gun and shouting for Agent Lee to come back.

Alex brushed past the powerful frame of the Councilor, telling the man to stay inside. He unholstered his own weapon as he went after Merritt.

“Stop right there, Merritt, or I will shoot you.” He threw his already deep voice so it could be heard clearly not only by Merritt, but by anyone in the surrounding cars.

Merritt stopped moving forward, but he kept his weapon in his hand as he turned. “You’re making a big mistake, Reyes.”

“No, you made the mistake. Where are they?”

“Where are who?”

“The assassins you’ve set up to take the Councilor.”

“You are not pinning this on me!”

“It was your security plan.”

“Plenty of people had access. You had access.”

“But not motive. It was your security plan, Lew!” Alex shifted to the left so the agent crawling beneath the car behind Merritt was no longer in his line of fire. He could sense the hovering presence of the Councilor in the door of the car. “Drop your weapon.”

“Fuck you.”

“Drop your weapon so we can go back inside and discuss this. You can still salvage things.”

Merritt’s hand tightened around the grip of his gun.

C’mon, Merritt, do me a favor. Lift it.

“If you think I’m going to let that play out, you’re a fool.” Merritt swung the weapon up.

Alex sparked the round as he fired the gun. A red hole appeared in the center of the man’s chest. He judged it a little high. A second red hole appeared, bigger, tearing out, making the first irrelevant. The bullet came from the agent on the ground who had slithered into position under the car behind Merritt.

He barely registered the few scattered screams from those hiding in the cars around them. In the silence afterward, he crossed to Merritt’s body, kicked away his gun, and then bent to check the man’s vitals. He looked back at the Councilor. When he shook his head, Three disappeared back into the car. The agent rolled out from under the car and trotted over to him. They were shortly joined by two more.

He gave them their grim instructions: stow the body. Instruct everyone to hunker down in their cars until told otherwise. Create a perimeter, and confine the Councilor’s senior staff to the forward car. He and the Councilor needed to be free to discover what they could from their surviving prisoner. The men nodded.

He picked up Merritt’s gun on his way back to the Councilor.

Lena still lay in her heap on the floor.

The Councilor had crossed the room to make himself a drink with shaking hands.

“Sir?”

Three slashed his shaking hand through the air. He wasn’t ready to discuss it yet. He raised the glass of amber liquid to his mouth with his other hand and began drinking noisily. That was fine with Alex.

With the Councilor’s back turned, Alex crouched by Lena, reached around her neck and released the Council collar. He pulled it open.

Her eyes cleared, and her body went rigid with rage.

From one moment to the next, with the first blink of those beautiful blue-green eyes, he felt fear. Cold gripped him at the base of his spine and squeezed. Would anything be the same between them? He’d made the choice he’d had to. If he believed the hurt and fury on her face, the answer was no.

Please, Lena….

The Councilor slammed the glass on the counter in front of him and poured more whiskey.

“So there really is a plot? There’s a conspiracy to assassinate me? Me!” He turned, drink in hand. His resonant voice dropped in shock. “What are you doing?”

“Collaborating,” he told Three. He pulled the collar from her and tossed it across the room to the couch.

She sat up, moving slowly. Her recovery would be too slow.

He pulled his focus, hoped for cooperation, and then asked for what he wanted.

The Councilor opened his mouth to shout, his brows contorted over his nose in a vee of fury. It was too late. Three choked on his words.

Alex lunged to grip the Councilor’s arm and twist it back and straight behind his body. He removed the glass from the Councilor’s other hand and forced the man to his knees with barely a sound. Couldn’t have a man of the Councilor’s impressive size thumping onto the floor.

“Stop,” Lena gasped. “Stop it.” She lurched to her feet. “He’s mine.”

He nodded at her and sent out a silent wish she would get what she needed from the man’s death. She was strong. This would make her stronger. Then they could talk.

Once she’s come to terms with who she is, we’ll be unstoppable together.
She had to forgive him.

“He always was.” He glanced at the door to her left in caution. “But quietly, Lena.”

She straightened. “I can be quiet.” Her voice was a bare whisper, hardly louder than the hoarse, fruitless gurgles coming from the Councilor as she crossed to him.