House of Cards (18 page)

“Maybe.” Julian parked the car in the underground garage and gathered his stuff. Rae did the same. They walked side by side into the training facility. He led her into a conference room just before the gymnasium. Rae had never noticed the door before.

Jennifer and Carter sat inside, with several other men Rae did not recognize. Jennifer gave Rae a critical stare, as if assessing Rae’s body for injury or something out of the norm. When Jennifer nodded, Rae had no idea if it was directed at her or simply to herself.

Rae sat beside Julian on the far end of the table.
Weird set up. Not so employee-manager friendly
.

Julian cleared his throat and pulled his iPad out of his pack. He used it to illustrate as he explained in detail how they assessed the museum, ran through every possible scenario while at the safe house, and then what he did while Rae was inside the museum stealing the book’s page. Julian opened a notebook as he talked and Rae saw he had listed off everything they had done – minus any conversations that did not involve the book’s page.

Rae noticed little drawings and doodles on the margins and blank parts of the book. One or two of them kind of looked like her. She wondered for a moment if he had known about the picture inside the ancient book. Maybe they were just coincidental.

Carter asked several questions as did two of the three men sitting at the table. Julian answered everything.

Jennifer interrupted Carter when he commented on the unique hall. She waved her hand. “The hall’s not important. Rae, tell us what you did to get to the manuscript.”

Rae looked at Julian, who nodded in encouragement. “I didn’t have to do much. From the sounds of it, Julian had his hands full. A lot more than I did.” She reached under the table for her backpack and paused when Julian’s hands stopped her. She didn’t know why, but she got the feeling he didn’t want her to pull out the page yet. Julian was one of the few people she trusted without conscious thought. So, she continued her debriefing. “Once I was through the door, I raced up the stairs and ran
into the hall, then into the room and used that tool-thing Julian described to you to get the page from the manuscript. Then I got the heck out of Dodge and met up with Julian.”

One of the men leaned over to Carter and whispered loudly. “Who’s Dodge?” 

Seriously?
Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the long day, or everything, but Rae couldn’t stop her flash of irritation. “It means, I got out of there as fast as I could.”

“How?”
the clueless man asked. “What tatù did you use? The same one the entire time?”

Everyone at the table leaned in. Even Julian seemed like he wanted to know.
So this is a debriefing. Seems more like an excuse to ogle my abilities.
“I started with Riley’s tatù as I approached the museum, except—”

“What’s a Riley tatù?”

Oh my freakin’ goodness
. They were going to be here all night. “Riley has a cheetah tatù, but it’s like being strung out on about a billion cups of coffee, so I had to switch to another. I used Devon’s – I used a fennec fox inside the building. It gave me speed, better night vision and hearing. I left using Jennifer’s tatù.” She didn’t bother explaining that one, as she was sure everyone at the table knew Jennifer’s ability. She was right.

“You retrieved the paper?” Carter asked.

Rae unzipped her backpack and just before she slid the plastic cover with the sheet of paper inside it, she hesitated. The paper had the portrait drawing on the side facing the table. Now was possibly the only time she would have to ask questions and get half-way honest answers. It was a gamble, but she had something they wanted. At that point in time, she knew something they didn’t. She might not get another chance like this. So, she went for it.

“Do you know what is on the pages?”

“Rae!” Julian hissed.

The table went silent. A full minute passed before one of the unknown men answered her. Rae found it interesting that it wasn’t Carter who replied.

“We have an idea.”

“None of you have seen it?” she pressed.

It took a moment but everyone at the table shook their heads.

“Why didn’t you get one of the historians or English teachers at Guilder request to have a look? I’m sure the museum would have gladly let a professional in, or at least let you look at other pages. It seems silly to have to break in.”

Julian kicked Rae’s shin as a warning to close her mouth. She pressed her lips tight to stop herself from saying “ouch!”

Carter nodded. “
Your question is a valid one. We did not want to raise suspicion. Trust me when I say this was the best method of retrieving the page before someone else did.”

Like the Xavier Knights?
Rae held the question in and leaned back against her chair. She didn’t miss Julian’s sigh of relief. Rae leaned forward and slid the paper across to Carter. It stopped perfectly in front of him. “Why is there a drawing of my mother on the other side?”

Jennifer grabbed the paper and flipped it over before Carter had a chance. “What the…?” She gasped and looked at the portrait and then at Rae. “That’s not your mother, that’s you.”

All the men at the table stared at the portrait and then at Rae.

What? What is she talking about?
“It’s my mother,” she repeated dumbly.

“No,” Jennifer said slowly. “It’s you. The hair is curly, your mother had straighter hair. I knew your mother when she was nearly the same age as you. This isn’t her.”

It was Rae’s turn to feel confused. “Why would an artist draw a portrait of someone five hundred years in the future?”

“Cromfield worked for the monarchy at the time. Because of his, uh,
talent, he had a lot of free time to work on his inventions.” Carter held the paper up, his eyes flitting back and forth from it, to Rae.

Cromfield. The name had been on the brass plaque by the book. Rae remembered it now. “His talent” obviously meant a tatù. “Why did he draw that portrait?”

Carter shrugged. “We’re not exactly sure. We intend to pool our resources and find out.”

“Maybe stealing the entire book would be better,” the man beside Carter muttered.

“Before the Xavier Knights do,” another man said and glanced meaningfully at Rae.

Rae took exception to the strange expression on his face.
Look away Kemosabe. Ain’t nothing for you over here.

Carter, obviously sensing Rae’s temper was very close to the surface, cleared his throat. “I believe this conversation can take place tomorrow. I think these two have gone over what they need to share with us. Thank you, Julian. Rae.”

Julian stood. “I’ll drop my gear off tomorrow if that’s alright.”

Carter nodded before turning to Rae. “I’d like to speak to you tomorrow. Come to my office at the house after classes.”

The sternness in his voice caught her off guard.
Oh, am I in trouble?
Rae’s ears burned. “Me?” She pointed at herself. Why did she feel like she was in trouble?

“Yes. The house office.”

“Okay. Where’s that?” Rae should have just asked Julian but she was too tired to edit herself anymore. The strain of hiding her distrust of almost everyone around her, the lack of sleep, the after-effects of her adrenaline high from the heist and the lack of real answers had her on edge.

If Carter was annoyed, he didn’t show it. “When you come through the main gates, the road veers to the right and leads up to the Tudor mansion. My office is second on the left. I’ll be there. After school.”

“Okay.”

She followed Julian, who seemed more than ready to leave, to the door. She paused when Jennifer came by and touched her arm. “Good job today. I’ll see you tomorrow, after you talk with Carter?”

Rae nodded and smiled at Jennifer, thankful for the kind, simple words. She was grateful Jennifer didn’t push her. She couldn’t take any more tonight. “Sounds good.”

Chapter 16

Never In a Million Years

The next day, Rae jogged by the gate and checked both directions of the road for any sign of traffic. She had spent most of the day trying to figure out what she had done wrong. She assumed she wouldn’t be called up to Carter’s office if she wasn’t in trouble. She had to admit she had been out of line the night before, to hold everyone hostage for her questions. She circled around and around the argument that she had a right to ask questions juxtaposed against the fact that she signed on with PC knowing that answering questions wasn’t what they did. She had gotten herself so worked up over it, she had decided to burn off her nervous energy on the way to her meeting. She was regretting that decision. “Jogging here was a dumb idea,” she muttered to herself. She switched on Devon’s tatù and listened up the road.

Nothing.

She walked by the gate entrance and entered her code. A moment later the heavy iron gates opened and she jogged through. Instead of heading to the left toward the training facility, she veered right and followed the old, cobblestone drive toward the Tudor mansion.

Carter had said his office was the second door on the left when you stepped inside the house. What were the chances there would be a code to the building and she’d set off a slew of alarms?

When she reached the steps she pulled her ear buds out, and stuffed her iPod into her pocket. Her pony held her hair up but she still checked to see if any locks needed a tuck behind her ear. As she walked up the steps she let her eyes wonder at the architecture of the old building. It seemed vaguely familiar, but she figured it most likely had something to do with the fact that half the buildings at Guilder looked nearly the same.

The door was unlocked, but Rae didn’t miss the security camera hidden neatly in the stone fixture by the door. It looked like a worn down gargoyle, but the glass eyes shouted “camera” to her.

The entrance had the same black and white marble floor as Aumbry House. Rae’s eyes quickly adjusted to the dimness with the help of Devon’s tatù.

She straightened and pushed back her shoulders. Whatever Carter wanted, she was prepared to defend herself.

The second door to her left did not have the typical Tudor wood design like the others facing the hall. It had been built with some kind of very modern metal. Rae didn’t have any problem guessing why.

She raised her hand to knock and hesitated. Using a number of different tatùs, she ever so lightly pressed her fingers to the door, hoping to sense what was behind it. No luck. She shrugged and pounded on the door.

It must not have been clicked shut properly as it opened halfway. Inside, Carter sat behind a large oak desk similar to the one she had seen him behind her first week at Guilder. He still carried that same dominance, just now, without the hostility toward her. Maybe she wasn’t in trouble.

Carter glanced up from his desk. He sat bent over, signing papers and flipping through some files. “Have a seat, Rae.”

She settled into the nearest wooden chair and waited, fidgeting nervously.

Finally
, after what seemed like a long time, but was probably about three minutes, Carter motioned just behind him with his hand. An older man standing in the shadows near the wall, wearing a uniform Rae didn’t recognize, stepped forward. Carter handed the file of papers to him. “It’s done.”

“We’ll process this right away,” the bulky man said in a short, brisk voice.

Rae tried to read the badge on his chest, but he covered it with the manila folder before she had a chance. A strange feeling in her gut suddenly made her want to stand, not sit. She rose and wiped her hands against her jeans and glanced at the door the officer had just exited from.

“Sit, Rae. You are not excused.” Carter closed his pen and tossed it on his desk. He leaned back and put his feet on its edge. “I wanted to speak with you.” He dropped his feet back to the floor and leaned forward. “There are events about to unfold which you should—you deserve to know.”

Hairs rose on the back of her neck. “What’s going on?”

“Please sit,” he repeated again.

Rae clenched her fists. Her nervousness came out as anger. “No!” She puffed her cheeks and forced a long breath out. “Please just tell me what’s happening.”

Carter’s eyes met hers and he stared at her a long moment. He stood and came around his desk, leaned against it and crossed his ankles as his
hands gripped the edge of the desk.

Rae took every detail of his posture in.
He’s trying to appear casual. Whatever he has to say, can’t be good.

He shifted and set his feet shoulder width apart. “We’re releasing your half-brother, Kraigan.”

Blood rushed past Rae’s ears, drowning any noise momentarily.
Kraigan
? “Wh-Whut?” She cleared her throat. “What? You can’t do that!”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“Of course you do! You don’t let him out!” Maybe the Privy Council did want her dead after all.

“Things are already in motion. I can’t stop them.”

Rae threw her hands up in the air. “Yes you can. You’re the bloomin’ president!” She had no idea how in the world the Privy Council thought this was a good idea.