Contingency (17 page)

Before I could even blink, everyone else had filed into the foyer and began yelling at each other. I had a hand on each of the mens’ chests and was beginning to feel quite claustrophobic and beyond pissed off. I tried to yell at everyone to get them to shut up and act like the adults they were supposed to be instead of animals.

Well, not the shifters, of course, no one could blame the shifters for acting like animals. I let my anger build in my chest and then focused it and my Warper energy into my hands as I shoved the two pigheaded men across the room. Silence descended as everyone stared at me.

“You two can have a pissing contest later, boys. Right now, we need to figure out a way to save all our asses and the President, who will be speaking in less than eighteen hours.” I narrowed my eyes at the two men who were still staring daggers at each other until they both nodded in my direction. I let out a relieved breath and waved a hand in the direction of the library. “Ok. Let’s get started then.” I brushed back the hairs that had escaped my braid and strode down the hall, hoping everyone would follow me without incident.

When we were all inside and seated, I made sure not to sit too close to Aldwin or Soren. Soren began by giving everyone an overview of the previous night’s events, including us finding out about the President and finding the files of unsolved preternatural murders. He told everyone about Phoebe’s attack and death as a result of the poison from her own blade. I saw Elaine flinch and pale as she heard Soren speak of Phoebe. I couldn’t imagine the pain she must be in, she had known Phoebe much longer than I had and it still hurt to think of her and Travis’ betrayal.

I unconsciously touched my left wrist, remembering the pain of the poison working its way into my blood stream. If I hadn’t been a Warper, I would have died just as quickly as Phoebe had. I guess some good things came along with being a Warper. I glanced up and realized Aldwin was watching me. I quickly put my hands in my lap and refocused my attention on what Soren was saying.

We all hashed out the worst and best case scenarios and came to a reluctant decision. I would get as close to the President as possible, since I was the one with the powers to freeze time and possibly save the President if all preternaturals failed to scope out and diffuse any potential threats.

I cleared my voice. “Is it possible for me to get close to the President?” I said asked.

Dwennon spoke up. “It shouldn’t be a problem since the government is aware of Cerberus and the importance of the society. They’d listen to Mrs. Howell if she were to tell them it was in the best interest of the President to have you close by him during his speech.” I glanced over at Elaine, who looked distracted.

“Do you really think we should put Sage in that dangerous of a position?” She asked with her teeth clenched. I furrowed my brow. She wasn’t acting like herself, but then again, she had just lost someone close to her and she was probably scared to lose me as well.

“I’ll be fine, Elaine.” I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Besides, we don’t have much choice, if the preternaturals don’t succeed in diffusing the situation, I’ll be the only one able to save the President. This is what I was sent here for.”

She cleared her voice and met my eye. “You’re right of course, I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling very well. I’ll make sure I contact our person in the President’s security staff first thing in the morning.”

Dwennon, Soren, Aldwin and about a dozen other preternaturals were going to be patrolling the area surrounding City Hall tomorrow, hoping to find and take out any threats from the thousands of people that would be gathered to hear the President speak. I prayed they would be successful. We all left shortly after making the final arrangements for the next day. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Aldwin or Soren before I left to go back to my townhouse. I didn’t want to get distracted by any drama, and I needed more rest before the next day since I was still feeling a little weak from blood loss. The next day I’d be rubbing elbows with President Theodore Roosevelt.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Nervous was an understatement, I was scared as hell that I’d mess this whole thing up. I mean what was riding on my success? Only the life of the President of the United States. Countless lives would also be lost if the President was assassinated publically by creatures that no one even knew existed; and let’s not forget that the events today could alter the time stream if I failed. No pressure, really.

On top of everything else I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to warp back to my time any longer. I had friends here, I also had Aldwin and Soren. I had so much more than I’d ever had in my own time. I couldn’t fail, but I could only hope that once we succeeded I would be allowed to remain in 1904.

I finished pulling my hair back into a bun and secured it tightly with pins, strapped my dirks in place and laced up my black heeled leather boots. I wore a long, simple black skirt with a black long sleeved lace blouse. I pinned on a small black hat with a short black see-through veil that fell over my eyes. I looked like a black widow, especially when I added my black kid leather gloves. I would blend in as much as possible with the men wearing their black suits, and that was all that mattered. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself.

I left my townhouse on foot, hoping that everyone else was in place. The streets were already filled with people heading to town hall to hear President Roosevelt’s speech. My boots thumped out a steady rhythm as I walked and kept an eye on the people I passed. It would have been nice to have been able to take care of the problem before it ever got close to the President. But, of course, that would have been too easy.

I arrived at town hall just as officials were shuffling the crowd towards the designated spectator area. I reached the front doors and a man in a black suit and black hat motioned for me to head in the other direction. “I’m here as part of the President's party,” I said stepping into his personal space so I could speak quietly. I didn’t want to make a scene. His eyebrow rose, almost touching his non-existent hairline and smiled at me like he was being entertained by a child. I stepped even closer to him, making him retreat a step, his smile slipped in the process. “Perhaps you’d like to inform the President that you are keeping a member of Cerberus from doing her job. One that could very well save the President’s life and keep the world from plummeting into absolute chaos.”

I’m not sure how I sounded to him, I didn’t have time to check my attitude or deal with anyone’s crap, but his eyes became as big as saucers and he stepped back enough for me to enter the building.

I followed him to the back of the building where a large group of men were huddled around a small round table talking. My reluctant companion walked over to the group and spoke into the ear of a ginormous man. He glanced in my direction and ran his eyes over me in a purely academic perusal. He walked over and I gawked at the giant standing before me. I held out my hand and he reluctantly shook it with his much larger paw. I cocked my brow at him.

“I am going to assume that you are the head of President Roosevelt’s security, and I’m also going to assume that you didn’t get the position just because of how large you are nor am I going to assume you got it because of how intimidating you are. No... I prefer to believe that you earned this position because you are the BEST at what you do.” I clucked my tongue. “I would hate to make assumptions based on appearances, wouldn’t you?” I looked up at him keeping my eyes wide and innocent. He cracked a grin “touché, Miss Hannigan.”

“Please, call me Sage. I’ll have to be close to the President during the entire speech, and just to let you know, I have three weapons on me and I also have a unique ability that may also come in handy.” I waited a second while he digested this info. His gaze quickly raked over me again and I smirked as he tried to figure out where I could have hidden so many weapons. “You may want to rethink your disregard of women being capable enough to be a threat in the future. Luckily, I’m on your side“

“Indeed." this time he looked at me with a bit of admiration as he held out his arm to me. I was suddenly nervous as he took me to become a bodyguard to the twenty-sixth President of the United States.

President Roosevelt didn’t waste any time. Everyone was briefed on the situation and the part I would play as a female bodyguard. If there was any shock from the other bodyguards over my sex or the fact that I’d be acting as second to the President’s head bodyguard, I didn’t notice. I was way too busy focusing on the task ahead of me. I barely registered anything that was said around me, and before I knew it I was flanking President Roosevelt as we headed out the front doors of city hall to stand in front of a crowd of thousands of spectators... thousands of potential assassins.

As I stood on the patio in front of town hall it hit me how hard it would be to spot a suspicious person. All the women wore long skirts, all the men wore suits in varying shades of gray and black and brown. 1904 was just a little too perfect for someone trying to blend in. The President approached the banister that overlooked the audience packed into the area to hear his speech and began addressing them in a booming voice. I stood back a few feet on his right and scanned the crowd. I was amazed at how quiet the huge crowd was as they listened to him. An abrupt movement in my peripheral vision caused me take a step towards the President. I saw several people standing around a figure on the ground and two men lifted her up as if she had fainted.

I watched as they parted through the crowd and a man with gold rimmed eyes turned and winked at me. Soren. The woman had been a threat. I stepped back into my original position and continued to scan the crowd for anything peculiar. A few minutes later there was a scuffle close to the steps of the patio where we stood. It looked like a drunken fist fight and I caught a glimpse of a scarred face before he grabbed the “drunk” by the scruff of his neck and led him away.

So far so good, my body began to relax just a little. The President’s speech would be over any moment and his body guards would get him quickly and safely out of Charleston. There was no doubt in my mind that two preternaturals had been taken care of by Soren and Aldwin, I could only hope that they were the only ones dispatched to try to assassinate President Roosevelt.

Just as the President was wrapping up his speech, I saw a glimmer of bright yellow in the front row of spectators. I stepped closer to the President and put my hand lightly on his elbow. The President didn’t act like anything out of the ordinary was happening, but my stomach lurched when I saw a pair of elongated eyes staring in my direction. Dear God. For some reason I had expected a vampire, but if a shifter began shifting in front of everyone here, it would be beyond explanation.

President Roosevelt’s Chief Security guard followed my line of vision and his eyes widened when he found who I was watching. The man’s face had begun to transform. His face was elongating, his eyes were more animal than human and his teeth had already lengthened into deadly fangs. It seemed that luck was on our side and only the head of security and I had noticed the change taking place. I had to scramble to come up with a way to handle the shifter without drawing attention to him or myself. He didn’t give me the luxury of over analyzing the situation, though. His eyes narrowed as he lunged towards the stairs leading up to the President.

A few people around him gasped when a growl erupted from his chest, but very few could track his inhumanly fast movements. Without thinking, I did what I was meant to do. I did what I was brought to 1904 to do. I warped. My left hand was still on the President’s elbow as I ripped the power from deep within myself and hurtled it towards the crowd to encompass as far as it could reach.

I bit my lip to keep from screaming out when it felt like my soul was being torn from my body. A warm trickle of liquid slide over my upper lip and quickly wiped the blood away with my gloved hand. I looked around me and out into the crowd and nearly dropped to my knees when I saw a sea of people standing frozen like a freaky life-like wax museum. My power was stretched so far that I couldn’t track its edges. I had no idea how much I could encompass with my time freezing powers, or how far those powers could reach.

I removed my hand from the President’s elbow and swung my eyes around to the shifter, who was frozen halfway up the stairs. I walked over to him and flinched. He had progressed at least halfway through his change. I looked at his face and felt like punching him. Moving the frozen, half wolf was going to be a difficult task. I pressed down on the center of my butterfly bracelet until I heard a little release snick. I jabbed the poisoned pin into the side of the shifter’s neck and began the foul language inducing task of hauling the half furry man away.

Sweat poured down my face and back by the time I had maneuvered the body of the creature around the other frozen spectators and into a broom closet in the back of the building. Aldwin had told me that the poison coating the needle would knock out anyone, human or not, for several hours, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I ripped off the ruffled hem of my underskirt and gagged and trussed up the shifter like a Sunday goose before I headed back to the patio.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

By the time I reached the President’s side I could barely stand up straight and I had to discreetly palm a piece of my underskirt for my bloody nose. I could feel my power shivering unsteadily around me and the city so I placed my left hand back on the President’s elbow and let the power I’d loosed around me snap back into my battered and weak body.