No Love for the Wicked (22 page)

What?
Cowardice? Assignments? What the hell was he talking about?

“As a first interview, I am notably impressed. But for any real consideration, I’d need a full résumé.” He waved his hand impatiently, and I winced automatically.

But nothing happened. No sudden whip of pain, no gut-wrenching feel of one of my organs erupting. Nothing.

“Well,” he said. “Show yourself. I haven’t got all night.”

Suddenly I understood. He thought I was some random person with supernatural abilities, here to show off in order to gain his attention and win some internship of power by his side. Had others done that? I wondered if Thirteen knew.

I stared at him through the glow of my vision, and something changed inside me. Not my power or my essence, but that child inside me who was still cowering by the wall at the sound of his voice. My father was talking to me. Not shouting, not snarling. There was no hatred in his eyes right now, only impatience. He had killed his own guards to silence them so he and I could have a conversation. And he wanted to keep talking: to know my powers, assign me responsibilities, maybe even guide me to the full potential he saw in me.

I wanted to be disgusted, livid, hurt. But I couldn’t. It was everything I’d ever longed for my entire life. My father didn’t want to kill or torture me right now. I’d impressed him. That child inside me glowed.

I let out a shaky breath, my insides trembling. His eyes narrowed. He’d heard my sigh and recognized it as female.
Shit.
Cold slithered over me, trying to strip away my invisible cover. He’d
said I’d manipulated molecules to conceal my appearance. Was that what I was doing? I always pictured it more as a shield that I created.
Whatever. Focus.
The cold of his power matched the ice in his gaze.

Then, suddenly, something occurred to him. His thoughts became crystal clear, and so loud I couldn’t ignore them if I tried. His power was strengthening in my presence. Just as mine was being near him. Never had he found another supernatural that could strengthen his abilities by proximity. Only our bloodline had ever done that. But he felt stronger now. His mind flashed to all those years of failed experiments on other supernaturals. He wouldn’t need to try to harness my blood or drain me of my energies—just being near me fueled his abilities. His power flexed, and he smiled at the feel of it. His powers hadn’t felt this strong in over a year—not since he’d thought I’d died. He might not know who I was, but I was suddenly his number-one priority.

His power slashed at me again. “I will see who you are,” he said in a chilling voice. I inched backward, my nostalgia gone. If he forced me to show myself, all his rage and violence would fall on top of me, ripping me to shreds. I had to get out of there. Get Theo out of there. No more reacting. Time to move.

Rubble lined the floor. I had to watch my step as I moved back toward the stairwell. Theo had kept mostly silent, but I felt his anxiety now as he knew I was approaching. Father stepped over his fallen guards, his eyes fixed on where he couldn’t see me. His power pushed hard; jackhammers beat against my walls.

“Show yourself!” he snarled. I stopped. That was the voice I recognized. The beastly snarl, the vicious rumble. That was the voice that had forever preceded the pain. Like Pavlov’s dog, I froze.

Heavy hands landed on my shoulders. Warm fingertips gripped my neck. The moment Theo touched me, something
inside me detonated. A blast of force burst out of me, blinding the hallway in white-yellow light.

Father flew backward over the dead guards and hit the far wall, crumbling the plaster behind him. He was on his feet again instantly. I gaped at him. Never had I lashed out so severely, even at the moments of my deaths. Theo pulled me back until I was in his arms, dragging me down the stairs. Father moved lightning-fast. In a blink, he stood in the fire exit doorway, no more than a few feet away from where Theo wrangled me down the stairs.

I looked up into Father’s eyes and saw all the hatred and violence I’d known my entire life. Then I saw a shift. His brow wavered; his lips parted. His icy power paused its assault against my shields. He made a move to speak, but nothing came out. I pulled back against Theo’s hold. What was he about to say?

“Ma-Marlena?” he whispered on a breath.

Marlena?
I looked down and saw that I was flickering. Like a camera trying to focus, pieces of me could be made out. An image flashed in his mind, and I instantly remembered. The woman from the green corridor, the one he’d kept secret even from his brothers. Did he think I was her? I’d assumed she was dead.

Suddenly I was flung over Theo’s shoulder. Holding me in a grip like a vise, he moved like I could—so fast we didn’t need to be invisible not to be seen. He raced with me until we were outside and then kept going. Past the guard station, past the parking lot filled with police cars, past the entrance to the Capital One building. He raced until, literally, he couldn’t move another step. We collapsed in a stretch of bushes behind the parking garage where Thirteen had set up his surveillance team earlier. But now everyone was gone.

“Where are the others?” I asked as I rolled off Theo and pulled his sagging body from the bushes.

“Moved on to the recon point,” he said through heavy gasps. “Told them we’d catch up.”

He’d kept his head while I’d faced off with my father, communicating with Thirteen to get Chang and the others to safety. We were visible now. As I picked leaves from his hair, I scanned his body. “Where are you hurt? What is broken?”

He choked on air, gasping for breath. His legs shook from the unnatural exertion.

“It’s OK,” I said softly. “You’re OK. Just look at me. Breathe with me.” Just like he had done for me on so many occasions, I held his gaze and forced him to follow my breaths. In and out. In and out. After a few moments, he inhaled deeply. I brushed his hair from his face. “Where does it hurt? I know the explosion hit you, and your legs are strained beyond what they should be. Where is the pain worse?”

He closed his eyes. With deep breaths he concentrated on settling his heart and lungs. “Explosion didn’t hit,” he managed. “Just knocked the wind out of me.”

I let out a relieved breath. Muscle strain would be a quick heal. I caressed his face. “I did it,” I murmured, more to myself than to him. “I faced my father again, and I survived.”

In fact, I’d done more than survived. I’d impressed him. And hate it or not, that fact more than anything made the cowering little girl inside me shine.

“Yeah,” Theo said, clearing his throat. “You survived. Congratulations. Now why the hell didn’t you kill that son of a bitch when you had the chance?”

Theo and I barely spoke on the drive over to the recon point. I’d healed his strained muscles, jacked a car from the Capital One garage, and called Thirteen from the car phone to let him know we were on the way. All the while, Theo’s question hung heavily between us. Why hadn’t I killed my father when I had the chance?

The rendezvous point was an empty parking lot behind a discount theater on the east side of the city. We passed a well-used putt-putt course, two liquor stores, and a cash-for-gold store before winding down the narrow alley to the back of the run-down theater. Broken streetlamps left the graffiti-ridden building in the shadows. As we pulled up, I saw a huge man in all black standing beside two souped-up BMWs.

Great idea, Thirteen. Let’s see how many drug deals we can interrupt while we try to recon.

I pulled alongside Thirteen’s SUV. Thirteen and Shane rushed over to us.

“Thank God! Are you OK?” Thirteen asked quickly. “Is anyone injured?”

“Not anymore,” I murmured.

Theo slammed his door. “Where’s Jon?” he asked.

“Jon was taken to the emergency room,” Thirteen explained. “He was shot in the abdomen, but Heather reports that he’s out of surgery and will be fine.”

“What about Chang?” Theo asked, leaning against the car. “Did he get everything we needed?”

Theo’s thoughts were cut off from me. I wanted to know what he was thinking, if he was really mad at me for leaving Father alive. But his mind was a complete blank. I ground my teeth in frustration and tried to listen to Thirteen.

“Chang’s mission was a success,” he answered. “He, Cordele, and the others are back at the offices downloading and sifting through the data. We are meeting in the morning at the farmhouse to plan next steps according to the sorted information.”

“Where’d you get this car?” Shane asked.

I looked down at the late-model Corvette and shrugged. “It was in the Capital One parking lot.”

“So you just stole it. Nice. Now we can add grand theft auto to our long list of felonies.”

“It wasn’t like we could go back to the reception and be like, oh hey, forgot our car.”

His hands fisted so tightly, I waited for drops of blood to seep between his fingers. The two black cars pulled out of the lot, grabbing our attention as their tires spun on the icy pavement. The enormous man in black was still there, headed our way. I looked into his mind as Thirteen responded coolly, “We have ways of
dealing with the authorities, Shane. You of all people should know that by now.”

The man’s thoughts were somehow blocked. After tonight, I was in no mood to be gentle. I pushed through his surprisingly strong mental walls. He stumbled. Calculation, focus, black-and-white thoughts without any of the colors of emotion gumming up the works. I recognized Jesse’s mind at the same moment I recognized his enormous figure stepping into the moonlight.

“Your mind is like Father’s guards,” I blurted out. “It freaked me out the first time I met you because I thought I recognized the mental pattern. Those guards tonight had minds just like yours. Black and white, no emotion or stray thoughts. You don’t feel drugged like they were. So what’s the deal, FedEx? What are you?”

I’d stepped forward without realizing it. Thirteen, Theo, and Shane were all at my back now. Jesse had stopped a few feet away. I was still in his head, but there was nothing there I hadn’t seen before.
Magnolia Kelch, Network agent under Red-Level Chief Thirteen, daughter of Magnus Kelch, blah, blah, blah.
It was like he was a robot or something.

He looked past me to Thirteen. “Surveillance disks have been confiscated and are awaiting your perusal. Local authorities have reported evidence of corporate espionage and possible infiltration into the Kelch Incorporated research line. Primary suspects include employees of Medco Rep, direct competitor to Kelch Inc. pharmaceuticals.” He looked back down at me. “I’m sorry you had to face your father again, Magnolia.” Then he turned, walked to the black pickup truck parked at the edge of the lot, climbed in, and drove away.

I turned to Thirteen. “What the hell was that?”

Thirteen glanced down at me briefly, then looked back to where Jesse had just pulled away. “We all have our roles, Magnolia,” he said in a faraway voice. “Jesse is loyal to the Network.
That is all that matters.” I wanted to ask more, but then he shook himself and said, “I’m heading into the office to join Chang on scanning the gathered data. If you want to rest until tomorrow’s meeting, I have no problem with that.”

Thank God.
There was a lumpy queen-size mattress under ten layers of cheap quilts just waiting for me to fall into it.

“I’ll follow you,” Shane said, nodding to Thirteen. “I want to see if what we got was really worth all the shit we went through tonight.” He turned to Theo. “What are you doing?”

I could feel the heat of Theo’s gaze on the side of my face. He waited until I looked at him. “I’ll see the team in the morning,” he said, never taking his eyes off mine.

Shane huffed and stomped away. Thirteen cleared his throat. “Seven hundred hours, on the dot,” he ordered.

Theo’s lips twitched. “Won’t be a problem.”

My entire body flared with heat. Theo lifted one brow. “Ready?” he asked. A loaded question if ever there was one.

I swallowed. “Let’s go.”

It was another silent drive, but not at all for the same reasons. My body hummed. I glanced at Theo from the corner of my eye. His head was back on the headrest, his eyes closed. I’d given up trying to get in his thoughts. Probably for the best. I didn’t want to hear how he was still pissed off at me for leaving my father alive. Not with the way my skin tingled right now.