The Wicked City (19 page)

After Micha ordered breakfast, he switched off the TV and grabbed something from the bedside stand. “Look, I had Cindy go downstairs and get this for me last night, after you fell asleep.” He held up a small blue book titled
The Pocket Guide to Chicago.

“What’s that for?” she asked.

Micha turned the book around. “They have these behind the concierge’s desk downstairs. It’s for visitors who want to go sightseeing.”

“What good’s it going to do me?”

Micha settled back on the pillows and opened the book. “Since you didn’t get to go sightseeing, I’ll read you some facts.”

June grunted and lay back too. “Facts. As long as you’re not gonna test me later.”

Micha read to her about the Chicago River, which sounded like a polluted mess and periodically flooded everything downtown. Parts of it were apparently so nasty organisms couldn’t live in it, and at one point it had to be redirected so as not to fill Lake Michigan with shit and kill everyone. Micha was obviously trying to distract her and give her something to focus on besides her own mental anguish, but it wasn’t working.

“Your river is depressing me.” She stretched her arms above her head. “Tell me about something else.”

Micha flipped through the book. “Ah. The Cloud Gate. You said your brother likes stuff like that.”

June didn’t answer.

Micha started reading about the sculpture. They were facts she already knew, thanks to Jason’s enthusiasm, but she let him read. Maybe it was distracting him, too.

“Jason would take a million pictures of it,” June finally said. She closed her eyes and tried to picture the silver blob she’d caught a glimpse of when they passed the park. Yes, Jason would take pictures and get posters printed from them.

“There’s other things in Millennium Park,” Micha said. “Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Crown Fountain, Wrigley Square. You want me to read about those?”

“Nah.” She opened her eyes. “I’m gonna go see them with Jason.”

Micha closed the book and rested it on his chest. He leaned in close and said softly, “Yes, you are.”

“Thanks.” She stole a quick kiss. His lips were intensely hot. “And thanks for the tour.”

“See, Chicago isn’t all bad.”

June shrugged. “Are you feeling any better?”

“Not really.”

Breakfast arrived. Micha didn’t eat much. They weren’t far into the meal when a cell phone rang in the other room, followed by Cindy grumbling. June took a bite of her crepe and chewed, listening closely as Cindy answered.

Cindy didn’t say much except, “All right. All right. Yes. Okay.”

“What is it?” June called out, after Cindy stopped talking. June needed more wine if bad news was on the way.

“Eric Greerson announced he’ll give Sam his press conference.” Cindy sounded tired and unenthusiastic. “With you and your brother there to show everyone you guys are still alive.”

June dropped her fork on her plate. “He’ll be kind of shocked when I’m not there.”

“Sam’s on his way. I’m sure he has a plan.”

Sam arrived with both Muse and Robbie in tow. Sam was humming. Dark circles under his eyes proved he was human and capable of being tired. He had, after all, been up all night having a fit.

Robbie, when he walked in, plunked an animal carrier in Cindy’s lap, and she yelped.

“I’m not leaving this cat at my house,” he told her. “Find someone else to babysit it.”

“Poor Dipity.” Cindy set the carrier aside on the sofa and opened the wire door on one end. “Has he been manhandling you?”

Dipity slid out and climbed onto her lap. The cat looked around and, seeing June, jumped down and rushed over to her. She slid around June’s calves.

“Dipster,” June said.

The cat hopped up on the back of the sofa next to June with a pleased rumble.

June petted her. “Don’t worry, you can come live with me. I’ll smuggle you back to Sacramento.”

Sam tugged off his scarf and wheeled around to June, all puffed up. “I told you I can get attention.”

“So you’re really getting the press conference?” June asked.

“Yes, Eric assures me both you and your brother will be there. Safe and sound.”

Muse sat down beside Cindy, and Robbie sat on the opposite sofa. Micha stumbled out of the bedroom, still in his T-shirt and pajama pants. His eyes were glassy, his cheeks flushed. June had so many things on her mind, her worry for Micha had to go down a few notches on her priority list.

“How the hell can he assure you I’m going to be there?” June asked Sam.

“My guess is because his people haven’t told him you’re not at the Institute.”

“This is gonna be interesting.”

“Yes, it is. I’m going to order some coffee. God knows I need an entire pot right now. Everyone sit tight for a moment.”

Micha wobbled on his feet, eyes drooping.

“Go back to bed,” June said gently. She took him by the arm and guided him back into the bedroom. Dipity jumped down and followed. “You need rest.”

Micha got back in bed. Once again, he didn’t seem wholly present.

“Rose’s older sister got turned into a vampire,” he said, as June covered him up. “When Rose was a teenager.”

June froze.

“This was before the Institute.” His speech was lazy and slurred. “Before people knew the truth about vampires. Her sister had a boyfriend. He was a vampire. They were in love, so he turned her. After he did it, he was so overcome with guilt he ran away. They never saw or heard from him again.”

June opened her mouth and closed it. Dipity sat next to her feet, purring.

“Things were harder back then.” Micha languidly rolled his head on the pillow. “We didn’t understand their natures… Not the way we do now. Rose’s family didn’t believe their daughter was a vampire. They thought she was crazy. They thought she was psychotic when she started attacking people because she couldn’t control her urges. So they put her in a mental institution…” He paused for a beat. “She died three weeks later, because the bacteria infecting her blood depleted it without a fresh supply.”

“That’s…horrible,” June said. “But—you remember this?”

“Rose didn’t know exactly what happened, until she isolated the bacteria. That was a rough week…” He slumped against the pillows. “She was a good woman.” His eyelids slid shut. “Just wanted you to know.”

He went still, as though he’d suddenly fallen asleep or passed out. June watched closely to make sure he was still breathing. She looked down at Dipity. The cat gazed up at her, yellow eyes complacent.

“What the hell?” June whispered.

She joined the others in the outer room. Dipity sat on her lap, and June petted her absently, glancing anxiously now and then toward the bedroom. She wished they could take Micha to a hospital, or at least find a doctor to look at him.

“Eric wants to know where I wish him to fellate me.” Sam stood between the sofas, mug in hand. “So do you have a plan, June?”

“A plan?” she asked.

“When your brother is paraded out at this press conference. What should we do?”

“I—”

The others all stared at her. Muse’s mouth twitched.

“Don’t know?” June said.

“You haven’t been thinking about it?” Sam asked.

“This has been your plan from the start!”

“All right.” Sam took a quick drink of his coffee. “I was just trying to be a gentleman actually, seeing if you had any input. I do have a plan. Simplicity is the best recourse. The Institute wants to bring you and your brother out to show me how much of a big persecuting jerk I am. So you need to be there.”

June narrowed her eyes.

“You come out,” Sam said, “show everyone you’re there, and walk out. With your brother.”

“Gee, why didn’t I think of that? Just walk right up in public and take Jason away.”

“The public thinks you’re there. So what is the Institute going to do when you show up where everyone thinks you are?”

“That’s not a half-bad idea,” Cindy said.

“It’s an amazing idea,” Sam corrected her. “The Institute can’t take you down in front of everyone.”

“What about when we’re not in front of everyone?” June asked. “Yeah, I show up, they can’t do anything in front of people. But once we’re not in public—”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Sam said.

“You can get Jason and me safely away from them?”

“I can get you into a car, which I can’t guarantee won’t be shot at. Is that good enough?”

“It’s better than anything I have.”

“That’s why I’m a leader. You’ll be helping us,” Sam said to Robbie. “Your skills will be useful. Yours won’t,” he said to Cindy. “You can drive the car.”

Cindy made a displeased sound.

“This is a huge risk,” June said. “Not just for me. For you, too.”

“By next week the Institute will be crumbling,” Sam said. “When Ethan goes to press with his story, all hell will break loose. I’d like to get my knife in before they completely bleed out.”

“I think we should take Micha with us,” June said, trying not to sound anxious.

“Why? He’s not going to be useful.”

“He’s not well. He’s acting even stranger than he was before. We can’t leave him here alone. We can just put him in the car or something.”

“We might be able to use him actually,” Cindy said. “Let Eric Greerson see him. Make him aware of what’s going on. The more people we have on our side the better, especially if that person happens to be the head of the Institute.”

Sam was silent a moment, and then he said, “You’re starting to think like me. I like it.”

Cindy smiled.

“If he’s ill, though,” Robbie spoke up, “he might encumber us.”

“You’re a big-time telekinetic,” Sam said. “You can move his carcass.”

Robbie frowned. His expression darkened, and it reminded June of when he’d went off on the weird rant at his house.

Muse was still twitching—only one side of her face now. “I’m trying to read Micha and his mind is such a jumble I can’t sort it out.”

June tensed. “This can’t be my power affecting him. It doesn’t work that way. I told you guys, my power doesn’t make people sick.”

“Maybe he’s just more pathetic than normals usually are.” Sam turned and walked over to the windows. “I know where we can have this press conference. But before I throw myself on the fire for you one more time, June, I want to ask you a question.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Are you willing to die for your brother?”

“Of course I am.”

“Noble,” Sam said, “and easy. So next question.” He fixed her with a glittering gaze. “Are you willing to kill for him?”

* * * *

Sam made some phone calls. June went out on the balcony and smoked one cigarette, and then another. She paced in the cold, filled with an anxiety even nicotine couldn’t assuage. Afterward, she checked on Micha and found him still asleep and feverish. Sam quickly received word Eric had accepted his choice of venue. Planning began.

“Promontory Point,” Sam said. He had pulled a small table in between the sofas, and they all huddled around it. “The field house. Three p.m.” He looked at his watch. “We’ve got roughly three hours.”

“Promontory Point?” Cindy gaped at Sam. “That’s Paranormal Alliance territory.”

“No kidding? I was there when the treaty doled it out to us. Why do you think I chose it? They’ll be on my turf. Everyone at the Institute who isn’t an idiot knows that place is mine and they’ll be on their best behavior.”

June didn’t know what “Promontory Point” denoted, but she didn’t bother asking. Sam started hashing out his plan. Cindy peered over his shoulder; Robbie seemed edgy; Muse sat at Sam’s side, silent and twitching.

“This is pretty straightforward.” Sam had drawn a picture on a piece of notebook paper, more inexplicable than “straightforward.” In the middle he’d made a square, some squiggly lines on one side, and a big rectangle on the other.

“When we get to the park, Robbie, you’ll take June down to the revetment, so no one knows she’s there.” Sam tapped the squiggly lines. “
And
you can take Micha down there with you. I’m not leaving him in the car for someone to see and blow our game. Robbie will act as a lookout and go-between.” He tapped the square in the middle. “I have to be at the press conference in the field house. Ethan will be there too. He’ll signal Robbie when it’s time, and Robbie, you tell June to come up. June, you’ll meet up with Ethan at the field house and go inside.”

“And then what?” June asked.

“You walk your ass into the press conference. Step up to the mic, say something witty. For my entertainment, at least. You owe me that much.”

“And I get Jason out of there?” June asked. “If he’s there.”

“If he’s not, there’s going to be hell to pay anyway.” Sam tapped the square again. “No one’s going to stop you walking out of there, not in front of all those cameras. Robbie, you bring Micha up from the revetment when the conference is over and everyone comes outside.”

“That could ruin the whole plan,” Robbie said. “If Eric walks out, do you think others won’t be behind him? Micha’s presence will start a riot.”

“It’ll create a diversion,” Sam said.

This was the first time June had heard Robbie argue with him.

“June will have a better chance of getting out of there if everyone is distracted,” Sam said. “If I can’t tell Eric the truth, I can’t. But June and Jason will still escape, so it won’t be for nothing.”

June clenched her fists in her lap.

“June,” Sam said. “You and your brother will run like hell for the parking lot where Cindy will be waiting with the car.” Sam turned to Cindy. “Get them out of there. Don’t wait for the rest of us. Take them to the airport. There will be tickets and a flight itinerary in the glove box.”

“Tickets?” June said. “Back to California?”

“When you get home,” Sam said, “I want you to tell the police, tell the press, tell everyone you know what happened to you here. That, combined with Ethan printing the story I gave him, will have shit raining down on them from everywhere. At the very least, they’ll be forced to close their doors pending investigation.”

“It all sounds so easy,” June said.

“Trust me, it won’t be.”

Sam sent Muse, Cindy, and Robbie to arrange the details. Before Cindy left, she turned to June and delved into her huge purse.