The Takeover (10 page)

“What we need is to meet with Senator Ropte,” I said. “He’s Delia’s heir and the prime suspect, so what’s stopping us? All we’d need is a good connection to his network and a few minutes, and I bet we’d discover the families’ locations. I volunteer for the job.”

Stella looked thoughtful. “It could work, if Patrick or I am close enough so you can channel our ability. Or if you can get me into his network remotely. It’ll depend, of course, on how well Ropte keeps his information guarded.” She looked at Ava for guidance.

Ava stood at the head of the table, leaning over slightly, her hands resting on the mahogany surface, her gray eyes missing nothing. “With Erin and Mari working together, and the rest of you for distraction, that may very well be our best chance. Patrick should have the connections to make such a meeting happen.”

Stella’s attention faltered slightly as she conferred over her electronic connection with Patrick. I imagined her mind flashing questions up on a screen faster than any human could type and Patrick answering in kind. In seconds, she had an answer.

“Patrick says Ropte talked to him at a party last week and suggested another meeting, which Patrick didn’t take him up on at the time. Apparently, Ropte encouraged Patrick to speak out against his father’s proposals. He suggested that Patrick needed to think more of his own kind.”

“Who is with Patrick now?” Ritter asked, tensing with the question.

Stella gave him a smile. “Don’t worry. Cort has him on lockdown at the safe house where they’ve stashed him. In case you didn’t notice, Cort didn’t come back with the others.”

“I noticed, but I want to be sure that Patrick doesn’t get any ideas about going to see Ropte on his own. Especially without Mari around to shift him out.”

“The stronghold is completely secret,” Mari told him. “We drove to it once so I could fix its location, but from then on, we’ve only shifted in and out. He’s perfectly safe.”

Ritter didn’t appear satisfied until Keene held up something from his pocket—a handful of keys. “I had the same thought, so I made sure there wasn’t any way to drive out. He’d have to walk miles first or blow the cover by calling in a taxi—if he could find one willing to go out that far.”

Ritter’s laugh surprised me, and I realized that was because I’d heard it so rarely. The others also relaxed at the sound, grinning, Jace’s smirk the biggest of all.

“Keep looking, Stella,” Ava said. “But the possibility of meeting directly with Ropte is promising, especially if he has no idea we’ve learned who he is. Naturally, he’ll suspect Patrick because of his nature and his refusal to join the Emporium, but he can’t know about Mari and Keene working undercover. The backgrounds we created for them are solid.”

I caught a glance between Mari and Keene and again felt the connection between them. With Mari posing as Patrick’s mortal fiancée and Keene as her brother, they wouldn’t have found much free time this past month, but there was definitely something going on between them.

“What’s the news from the Hunters?” Ritter asked Keene. “Have you heard from your sources?”

Keene made the jumble of keys disappear. “The official word from the Hunters is that they aren’t responsible for what happened to Burklap. Or rather, the kill order didn’t go out from their leaders. But as you expected, they can’t vouch for all the new members who’ve joined in the past three months.”

“It’s terrible what happened to Burklap,” Mari said. “We met him last week at an event. Such a vibrant man, and now he’s just . . . gone.”

This interested Dimitri, who sat on my right side. “Can you recall anything odd from that night?”

Mari hesitated. “No, not really, other than I’m pretty sure that was the same night Ropte approached Patrick. Well, he was there, at least. But a lot of politicians were. Quite a few of them really seem to love Ropte.”

“Well, think about it and let us know.”

“Okay,” Mari agreed.

“A few of the leads we’re following come from the White House,” Stella said into the sudden silence. “They’re busy working the case too. Patrick’s father doesn’t want any more families to end up like Burklap’s, and at the same time he needs the votes of those senators.”

“Taking the families was a smart move by the Emporium,” Jace said, his jaw tight. “If you can’t find the families, there’s no chance of rescue and those senators will have to do their bidding.”

“There will be more victims before it’s over.” Twin lines appeared between Keene’s eyes. “We’re going to have to do more than find these families and protect all the others who might go missing. Eventually, we’re going to have to hit the Emporium hard enough that they’ll stop. For good.”

A shiver rolled through me at the certainty in his voice. Keene had grown up in the heart of the Emporium, as a then-mortal son of Triad member Tihalt McIntyre, and had experienced firsthand their cruelty. He’d tried everything to be one of them—impossible when he didn’t Change as expected. Then he’d made a choice that saved my life and helped Chris and his children escape from the Emporium. Yet even after leaving the Emporium and facing the truth, joining us hadn’t been easy for him.

“We have to stop these kidnappings first,” Ava said. “We can’t second-guess ourselves. But at least Stella has been able to verify that they’re the only families currently missing.”

Ritter nodded. “I agree, but Keene’s right that they’ll up the ante, even if they wait until after we save these families. We have to prepare for worse. Unless we decide to take the offensive.”

We all pondered his comment for a few seconds, and then Ava nodded. “I want to hear ideas on that. I think we all agree that the time is coming when we’ll have to face them directly.”

“With the information from our new guests, we know where they are,” Dimitri said quietly.

Ava turned to him, an unreadable expression on her face. “I don’t know how we could survive taking the fight to them, not with our low numbers, but we may have to.” They shared a long stare, and I caught a sense of fire and burning and fighting and dying. Dimitri at least had survived a similar battle with the Emporium, and it hadn’t ended well.

In the next second, the impression was gone, and Ava turned to Stella. “Let me talk to Patrick.”

Patrick appeared over the table in 3D. Or at least his top half did. He was facing Ava so I was looking at his profile, but it was easy to identify him. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes that looked out from a pleasant, average sort of face—or a face that would have been average if he were mortal.

“Patrick, Stella’s been keeping you apprised of our discussion, I assume?” Ava asked.

His generous mouth curved in his customary smile. “Yes, and I’ll set up a meeting with Senator Ropte. All I need is a good connection to his network and a few minutes.”

Ava frowned, her face unyielding. “Not a meeting at his office. We want a social situation at his home. You’ll go in with Mari and Keene and Erin. The others will be outside for backup. Your job will be to keep Ropte distracted so they can get the information. I won’t be sending Stella because we need her here, which means Erin will have to channel your ability.”

Patrick’s smile turned sheepish. “All right. I’ll send out a few feelers. He’s popular, so I think I just need to show up wherever he’s going to be. Shouldn’t take me more than a few hours to pinpoint an event he’ll be attending. Then when I run into him, I can suggest that I’m willing to hear more in a casual setting. Assuming I can get an invitation to his house, it still might not happen for a few days.”

“We don’t have a few days,” I said. “There’s got to be another way.”

Mari snapped her fingers. “What about that senator who wears her hair up in that huge gray bun? I seem to remember her hanging around Ropte and flirting with him to the point of ridiculousness. Well, when she wasn’t flirting with you.”

Patrick gave a short, mirthless laugh. “Oh, you mean Beatrice Shumway. Yep, she courts everyone, despite her age, and is actually more successful than most. She might be a good one to plant a suggestion on because she was there at that party when Ropte approached me last week. If I dropped a hint that I was amiable to hearing more from Ropte, she might work to arrange something in an effort to please us both.”

“It has to be at his place, though,” Ava reminded him.

“Leave it to me,” Patrick said. “I know how to work the system. Ropte has a very nice townhouse in DC, and it shouldn’t be too hard to get him to throw a party. Guess it depends on how much he wants to meet with me.”

I looked at Ritter, and I could see my own worry reflected in the set of his jaw. If Ropte suspected anything, Patrick would be in danger. Big danger. At the same time, if Ropte’s ego was big enough that he believed Patrick might be swayed to his side, it could work.

When no one voiced opposition, Ava spoke. “Okay, then. Erin and Ritter, you will accompany Keene and Mari back to DC. You will be responsible for retrieving the families held in Virginia and Maryland.” She hesitated a second before asking, “You can shift them all, can’t you?”

“Easy,” Mari said with confidence.

“Man, does that mean I’m out of a job?” Chris spoke for the first time from his seat on Ritter’s other side. We all laughed.

“Not on your life,” Ava said. “In fact, you need to get to the airport and ready the plane. When we do find those families, we’re going to have to act fast—and at the same time. I’m banking that Stella’s hunch about Idaho is right, so Jace and I will take a team and wait there for a final location. Dimitri and Oliver can take the smaller plane to wherever the fourth family is once we’ve got a lead for them. Everything will go through Stella, who will remain here to coordinate.” Ava stood, signaling that the meeting was over, and the holo of Patrick vanished.

Nodding at me, Ritter headed to the door with a gleam in his eyes that told me he was heading to our weapons arsenal to choose what we would need for our op. He didn’t hurry, but his movements were fast compared to a non-combat Unbounded. Dimitri hurried after him, no doubt worried about what our guests might be up to in the holding suite. I’d risen to follow them out the door when Jace’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a few minutes?” he asked.

Jace had always been my favorite brother because he and I were only two years apart, and since discovering our nature, we’d grown even closer during our many ops together. Unlike with Chris, our conceptions had been manipulated in a fertility clinic by Ava and the others when my parents had difficulty conceiving and requested a sperm donor. Without that intervention, neither of us would have Changed. I was grateful, but I still dreaded telling Jace the truth about his biological father. He’d been asking, and I knew he wouldn’t leave it alone.

“Sure,” I said, sinking back into my seat.

He settled in Ritter’s vacated chair as the others filed past us. When they were all out of earshot he said, “About my father. It’s time I knew.”

I wanted to tell him that he should
never
have to deal with that knowledge, but Jace wasn’t the same boy who’d Changed last year. He listened to orders, he’d begun to think before acting, and he could fight like a demon. He’d become a vital member of our team, someone to rely on. Maybe he could handle the fact that his father was an egotistic megalomaniac with delusions of godhood and a plan to enslave mortals. That he’d tried to kill our family, including Jace, to achieve those ends. Just thinking about it brought back the fear.

“I’m sorry we haven’t talked before now,” I began hesitantly. “But Jace . . . it’s not good.”

My brother grimaced. “Don’t you think I’ve guessed that? Look, I’m not going off the deep end just because some guy donated sperm to start my existence. Our dad, the guy who raised us, is my father, but I need to know the rest.”

“Let’s go up to my room then.”

Jace grinned and bounced to his feet like he had as a child when I’d invited him to see a movie with me and my friends. My heart ached that he’d have to shoulder the burden of his heritage. I knew only too well how it felt.

Ava and Mari were waiting for us outside the door to the conference room. “I need you to get to the infirmary,” Ava said, “so Dimitri can give you a large dose of nanites.”

There was only one reason for that. Newer nanites made it possible for technopaths to mask—or change—their identities completely. That meant if I channeled Patrick or Stella, I could make myself look like anyone in the world. “Who am I going in as?”

“Still working that out with Patrick, but we’ll definitely be using the nanites for your disguise. We can’t have the Emporium catching wind of you anywhere near Ropte. They’d be all over you in an instant. It’s going to be dangerous enough as it is.”

I glanced at Jace before replying. “I’ll go up in a bit.”

“Now,” Ava said. “Dimitri is waiting.”

I looked at Jace, who shrugged, hiding his disappointment. That alone showed how far he’d come. “I’ll catch you later,” he said. “Before you leave.”

“All right.” I watched him go, aware of Ava’s eyes on me instead of on Jace. She hadn’t given me permission to tell my brother about his conception, but I wasn’t going to ask for her blessing. Maybe I was still annoyed that she hadn’t been up front with me about Dimitri and my own beginning.

“I’ll walk you up to the infirmary,” Mari said, her voice bright with eagerness. “Or I can give you a ride.”

Ava surprised me with a laugh. “Yes, show us how you do it. I’m going upstairs to talk to our guests while I wait for a phone call from our Mexican compound.”

I frowned. “Problem there?”

“No,” Ava said. “It’s rather a good thing, actually. The new batch of reformed prisoners we’ve let work at the compound are ready to transfer to the village we created for the others we released from the prison. They’re doing quite well—keeping all the rules and working with the natives. No sign of wanting to run back to the Emporium. Of course, we’ve been really careful to make sure they’re ready.”

I knew that much. I’d been down there several times in the past three months, interviewing the reformed prisoners and testing their minds for deceit. It was a relief to find something going right for a change. “That’s great.”