Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (17 page)

As they finished and went to the exit, Jane felt someone’s hand on her elbow. She turned, finding Skull at her side.

“Peter wants to see you in his office. Alone,” he muttered and looked at the others, lingering on Pain.

Jane only nodded, surprised, and followed her friends with questions raging in her head – what could Peter possibly want from her that wouldn’t require her sister’s presence?

A half-hour later, while Pain was reading her new book and Chad was watching a movie with Dave, Jane took an attempt at leaving and going to Peter’s office without suspicion.

“Listen, why don’t we go to Peter and ask if he can get our things back?” she asked.

Pain gave a martyred groan.

“I don’t wanna go there again, we’ve done it too many times this week,” she muttered. Jane knew that she just didn’t want to get out of the recliner, where she was sprawled cozily with the book in her lap.

“I’ll go,” Jane suggested, sliding off her bed and heading for the door.

“Good luck with that,” her sister mumbled.

Jane decided to ignore her comment. She didn’t need to be right this time, she just needed to leave without any suspicion. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she closed the door behind her. It was easy, always when Pain was in this lazy after-battle mood. Usually they did everything together, and it could be difficult to get rid of her – hundreds of questions and suspicious glances would follow, and not without a reason. Mostly Pain could feel when there was something, and Jane hated how intuitive her sister could be; although it did save their lives more than once, she had to admit.

Too edgy for the elevator, she used the stairs and reached the waiting room in a couple of minutes. Skull – a book in one hand and a knife in the other – nodded and pointed at the office door.

“You wanted to see me?” she asked, coming in.

“Yes!” Peter perked up and came out from behind the conference table. “As I promised, I came up with a countermove against Eugene. But we’ll need only one participant for that. To be more precise – you.” He looked at her meaningfully as she came closer to him.

“What do you mean?”

Somehow by a countermove she had imagined some tricky attack on Eugene’s office, one that would involve a whole army of armed to their teeth Ghosts, sowing death and chaos.

“Look,” Peter said and perched himself on the table’s edge, “The best thing to do now is to sneak into his building and overhear something important. Whatever it is. Staying without a clue of what he wants, we’re playing under his rules,” Peter explained.

“So what do you suggest?” Jane asked, still uncomprehending. She had never worked without her sister before. Just the idea of working without a backup seemed weird enough.

“Our men look too noticeable with all the muscles and scars.” Peter grimaced. “And you could get inside Eugene’s building as, let’s say, a construction inspector and ‘get lost’ for a while in corridors. Sneak to Eugene’s office through the vent, see what’s going on in there. Then you can get to your attendant as if nothing happened. They hardly will suspect anything.”

“But most of the Beasts know me and Pain by sight! We and Marco are enemies number one for them,” she protested.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve got full details from our informer in Eugene’s organization. His fighters, except for the guards, don’t even show up in the building at daytime. Their quarters are located under it, and it’s only civilians who work on the top floors. Only a few of them know who Eugene and his men really are. This is why our guy can’t get to the top floors, and he hasn’t found anything interesting among the fighters yet.”

She hesitated. It wasn’t just the image of her sister’s anger when she would find out. The whole idea seemed just too crazy and vague. It didn’t sound like something Peter would come up with: his ideas were intricate and cunning and elaborate schemes. This was exactly like something her sister could do, thoughtless and risky, and why not pick her for doing what she did best?

“What about Pain? Do you mistrust her ability to work undercover?” she asked finally.

Peter grimaced.

“Everywhere else she’s great, but you know how it gets out of control with her sometimes. I’m afraid she could come out somehow in the very center of our enemies’ headquarters.”

Jane dropped her eyes, thinking over it. Although this plan sounded crazy, she did want to do something on her own at least once. She knew it was silly and shallow, but still, a thin voice in the back of her mind was saying over and over that it was her shot. Her chance to prove that she was as good as her sister, not just in fight, which everyone knew, but at
everything
. Peter was waiting, and she didn’t want to show that she was hesitating. He could change his mind any moment, seeing her doubt her chances. So she nodded.

“Okay. When?”

“Most likely, tomorrow. We need time to get you papers and a suit.” Peter smiled.

She smiled in return, remote and half-heartily.

“Okay, I’m ready anytime.” She turned to leave, but paused at the doors. “By the way, I told Pain I’d come here to ask if we could get our things back from the apartment. Is it possible?”

“Sure. I’ve already sent someone to sort out the mess.” Peter winked at her, and with another smile, she left the office.

*

Jane was getting her last instructions in Peter’s office when the door banged open, and Pain stormed inside, clutching a stack of papers in her hand.

“What the hell is this??”

With a few vigorous steps, she appeared before Peter and threw the papers on the table in front of him. Chad and Dave walked in after her, their expressions equally annoyed, and got seated without a word.

“This is…” Peter muttered, tilting his head and looking closely at the stack.

“I see what it is.
Inspector Jane Adams, Department of Buildings
. I saw Luke looking for Jane because there was some error in the first copy,” she said with dark irony. Peter dragged a hand through his hair with a sigh. “When were you intending to tell
me
about this nonsense operation?” She stared at him expectantly.

He drew a deep breath.

“Calm down. And take a seat.” He got up from the table and pulled out one of the chairs for her, looking at it meaningfully. “I’m going to explain everything to you.”

She exhaled angrily; Dave wondered why there were no puffs of smoke coming out of her nostrils. With an ice-cutting glare at Peter, she lowered herself onto the chair, her back taut as a wire. She was looking up at him now, her eyes fixed on his face without blinking, every muscle tensed, like a big cat ready to attack its prey any moment.

Peter looked back at her steadily. He seemed solid and collected, not in the mood for bickering, all his previous weariness gone.

“I wanted to tell you about our operation after it would be successfully completed,” he began and sat back into his armchair, but she interrupted him.

“Oh, quit it, I know what you wanted. To send her somewhere with a task so you wouldn’t have to involve me, because you don’t trust me.”

“You’re wrong,” he calmly objected.

“Don’t bother trying to convince me.” She waved her hand dismissively at him. “But she,” Pain pointed with her thumb at Jane, who stood at the table’s end in a black pantsuit and heels, with her eyebrows raised in an expectant manner, “is not going anywhere.”

Peter frowned, a glint of irony creeping into his eyes.

“Don’t you think you’re forgetting who’s the boss here?”

Pain sighed at that, exasperation written all over her delicate figure now.

“Look, if you’re the boss here, you must understand that sending a seventeen-year-old girl alone to our enemies’ headquarters is madness. And yes, you should’ve warned Luke that I didn’t know about the mission,” she answered, clearly making an effort to keep her voice low.

With a single shake of his head, Peter leaned forward in his chair.

“Do you really think I’d send her there if it wasn’t safe? There’s no risk. Everybody in there is busy with work. She’ll get in and out without a second glance in her direction.”

At that, Pain growled sharply and rose to her feet, standing in front of him and locking her gaze with his.

“I forbid it. Period,” she snapped with finality.

“As who?”

Peter got up, too, and she had to take a small step back when he towered over her. But she raised her chin, looking up at him with challenge.

“As her legal guardian.”

Peter’s face went blank. Then, slowly, his eyebrows went up. It was obvious that he hadn’t expected her to play the legal guardian card. At the other end of the table, Jane snorted.

“Oh, come on, I’ll be eighteen in two months!”

“No, you won’t!” suddenly Pain almost shouted, whirling around and stabbing her index finger at Jane with her eyes shining. “If you go there alone – you won’t,” she added, and this time her voice came out lower, but it was so heavily edged that for a moment everyone froze, their worried eyes flashing in her direction and quickly away.

Jane looked back at her sister steadily, but didn’t dare to say anything, and for some time the room hung in heavy silence.

“So, what do you suggest?” Peter broke it at last.

Pain turned back to him and shrugged, her face as nonchalant as ever.

“I can go there.”

“No-o-o, you’re not going near Eugene’s office. Period,” he snapped. “There’s too much fight in you for that. I need somebody who’ll get in and out undercover.”

She scoffed, putting her hands on her hips.

“Well, if I won’t do, you should probably send Marco there. I bet this suit will fit him perfectly!” She waved her hand in Jane’s direction, making Jane roll her eyes.

Peter fell silent and looked at his feet. He seemed to be torn between his thoughts, and a deep frown appeared on his forehead. Dave and Chad watched him with similar worried eyes, sitting beside each other with their hands lying knitted on the table, like they did it on purpose, imitated each other’s poses and expressions. Even their thoughts now were the same: they both felt a great amount of sympathy toward Peter, who had to deal with Pain and her temper so often.

Finally, he spoke,

“Elena will go on the mission.”

He looked at Pain. Behind her, Jane frowned, bewildered.

“Come on, she can barely hold a sword!” Pain exclaimed right away, throwing her hands up.

“Exactly! This is what I’m talking about! You think it’s only fighting skills that matter, but on this mission, she’ll only need to get where she’s not supposed to be and overhear something that would help us!” Peter said.

“Oh, really? What if Eugene finds out that we’ve sent a spy to him? She’ll be alone among the Beasts with no chance to save her life? You won’t do this, Peter.” She shook her head with disbelief.

He shrugged.

“Then Ting will go.”

“She has a Chinese accent and braces on her teeth! Nobody will believe she’s an inspector!”

Peter took a long, weary breath and looked to the big window, not really seeing the bright summer day outside, the sparkling sun and birds, the perfectly blue sky and white clouds.

“Then I don’t have a choice.”

Pain sat on a plastic chair in the hall outside the waiting room, her face furrowed in angry disagreement, her elbows on her knees, and her shoulders hunched with resignation. The guys beside her didn’t dare to talk. Her mood was so gloomy, they could practically feel it all around them, like a thick black cloud threatening to burst into a storm any moment if someone as much as shifted in their place. Jane stood leaning up against the opposite wall, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt already and staring at the ceiling with boredom. She acted resentful, though really she was just annoyed. She had lived with her sister for too long to have the energy for actually being mad at her. Especially, when she knew Pain just wanted to keep her safe.

The guys’ heads whipped up as a bulky figure appeared from the waiting room and passed them by in the elevator’s direction. They followed it with their gazes, and Pain raised her head, too, slowly and suppressing a sigh.

“Bullshit,” she exhaled.

Cornered in their argument, Peter sent Betsy the Cook on the mission. Betsy was about six feet tall, stout, and had a very deep, manly voice. She used to fight, too, but the last five years she had spent in the canteen, tired of her previous life. Peter quickly got new papers for her, but he couldn’t get a fitting suit in so little time, so she was dressed in her own shirt and skirt. She had only one pair of appropriate shoes, which she wore once a year, maybe. So now Betsy was heading for the tunnels at a shaky pace, followed by four doubtful looks.

“No way she’ll be able to sneak around the place without getting killed,” Pain muttered.

Chad looked at her with sympathy.

“Well, maybe it won’t happen, and she’ll be alright.”

“Yeah, ’cause she’s so imperceptible. She’s got biceps the size of Marco’s head,” she grumbled back, and Chad couldn’t help but chuckle.

“That’s true,” he confirmed. “But still, you gotta give it to her, she does look a bit like an inspector of some kind,” he replied, trying to sound light and pushing the rest of the thought away from his tongue,
While you’re kind of too hot and young for a job like that
.

She cut her eyes toward him, but didn’t object, only sighed and hung her head.

“Maybe…”

“But I still think she better get lost somewhere in the tunnels,” he added, trying to support her.

At that, her head snapped up, and her eyes stabbed into him. He tensed, ready for a mean reply, but she just asked,

“What did you just say?”

He stared back with a question in his eyes. But as he tried to understand what was going on in her head, she was already on her feet, rushing to the staircase.

“Watch after these two!” she shouted – apparently, to Jane – and disappeared around the corner.

Jane stood up straight with a frown, but didn’t move from her spot. She looked at the guys, who only shrugged their shoulders with blank faces, and then back to the hallway, trying to understand what Pain was up to.

Pain burst into her room and stormed through it, looking for her black shoes, Jane’s new suit, and the papers. In less than a minute she was already running through the corridor and heading for the staircase again. She passed the stairs in a few long leaps and reached the ground floor. It was empty this time of day, lamps shining with their faint light, the whole place looking deserted and dusty.

She clutched her things tightly, pressing them to her chest, and hurried to the hatch. It was open as usual, and she jumped through the hole – and landed right beside Marco.

“Hey! Easy there, Catwoman, you almost landed on my head!” Marco pushed her in the shoulder with irritation. Apparently, he was hanging out with Patrick, who was on duty that day.

Pain ignored him, and since her hands were full, pointed at the door with her elbow.

“Where’s our…” she fumbled for the right word, panting, “spy?”

Marco eyed her from top to toe, frowning as suspicion dawned on him.

“Left a couple of minutes ago,” he spoke finally. “Why do you care?”

“Ah, I just have to… to give her something from Peter.” She took a quick step to the door. “She forgot something.”

With one long step, Marco got in her way, his eyes narrow with distrust.

“Oh, really? What, another pair of shoes? Of course, she was a bit worried, but not so badly that she would grow an extra pair of legs.” He grinned at Patrick, who held back his smile, not wanting to irritate Pain. “So what do you have to give her?”

“Some…” she hesitated for a moment, “stuff…”

Marco cocked one black eyebrow at that.

“Stuff? Wow, sister, you could have come up with something so much better than that.”

“Oh, come on, Marco, I have to catch up with her!” she exclaimed, jittering up and down on her feet from exasperation.

She made as if to reach the door handle behind him, but Marco swayed to the side, blocking her and making her quietly growl. After a few seconds he finally grinned and stepped aside, opening the door for her.

“Fine!” He waved his hand, offering her to walk through. “Go get that gorgeous butt in trouble. Call me if you need… backup.” He was going for the word
help
, but he would never use it with Pain, knowing how stubborn she could be in admitting that she ever needed someone’s help, even his.

As she stepped over the threshold, she paused and peered into his eyes.

“Listen, do you by any chance know how much Peter’s paying her for this mission?”

Another white grin flashed across his face.

“You better not know! You’re not gonna see that money anyway. You’ll just get some good beating after what you’re up to.”

She shrugged, unconcerned.

“Okay. You didn’t see me!”

Marco’s eyes glistened ironically as he saluted into the darkness, “Yes, sir!” and slammed the door shut.

*

Pain reached the first fork in the tunnel and stopped.

She could navigate in the tunnels pretty well without a flashlight or a map. She knew a lot of exits where she could get just by counting turns and tracing her hand along the wall. The problem was that she didn’t know which one Peter chose for Betsy, so basically she didn’t know where to go. But she knew three things – it would be a short route, it would end in a busy area where Betsy would get a cab easily, and it would be one they used very rarely. The right corridor led to the outskirts of Brooklyn, and it clearly wasn’t what she needed, so she dug her heels into the metal floor and dashed for the left one.

She thanked herself silently for choosing sneakers and a light sweatsuit that morning. It could be difficult if Betsy knew about her, but now she would just sneak upon her and do everything smoothly. Another intersection was there, and she stopped. She had the most powerful ally in all this – the sound. At first, everything seemed still and quiet, and Pain had to make an effort to soothe her breathing, and mostly, thoughts. It was difficult to wait when she needed to move as fast as possible before Betsy would get to the surface, but there was no choice. A minute passed, and then she heard it, a steady clip-clop of the heels. A little smile curved the corners of her lips, and she turned to the right, following the sound.

One more turn, and she could see her, a dark figure walking along the tunnel in a cloud of yellow illumination from the flashlight. Pain got behind her back quickly, careful not to make a sound, and assessed her victim. It wasn’t helping that Betsy was so big, but Pain fought bigger.

With a single swift blow, she stunned the woman, catching her awkwardly with one arm and lowering her to the floor. Something clattered sharply, turning the metal walls around her into a grumbling orchestra. Her ears prickled, and she tensed, only to realize that it was Betsy’s flashlight that slipped from her fingers and hit the floor. She exhaled, relaxing, and picked it up. She put it on the floor upside down, its light turning the air into a dance of flying dust motes. Then she wiggled out of her hoodie and laid it down. She put Jane’s suit atop of it, together with her shoes and papers. She took the jacket and put it on – good thing it had a row of buttons instead of just one; nobody needed to know that she only had a bra under it. Then she changed her pants and put on the heels. After a short speculation, she crouched over Betsy, took her head in her hands, and fumbled for her hairclip. It was suitable for holding her hair in a high ponytail. She took the briefcase that Betsy was carrying and slipped her documents inside it, taking the woman’s papers out and leaving them there.

She stepped aside, looking over the still body of their cook.
Please don’t put cockroaches in my breakfast,
she pleaded silently and rearranged her sweatsuit on the floor. Bending over, she took Betsy under her heavy arms and hauled her to the left, so she could lay her on the covered patch of floor. Unfortunately, it was one thing to throw people around with the help of her power, and another to drag them. Finally, she straightened up, taking the briefcase and the flashlight off the floor, and brushed the dust off her suit. As a finishing touch, she reached down and plucked the glasses off of Betsy’s nose, looking at them with doubt.
Won’t hurt,
she decided and put them on.

“I hope you won’t catch a cold here, poor… giant… woman.”

She gave Betsy one last glance, dropping a half-apologetic, half-indifferent shrug, and started along the tunnel, followed by an idle whistling tune.

*

Back in the building, Jane and Chad returned to their room. Dave was taken by Marco, to play poker with Ryan and Cooper, a guy from their floor. Chad landed in the recliner, snatching some magazine off the table – he didn’t really care which as long as it was a male one. Another quiet day without as much as moving was just what he needed after their Manhattan fun. Maybe he didn’t fight there, but he had lost enough nerve cells for a year ahead.

Jane paused at the entrance and looked over the room skeptically. It was a mess, clothes strewn everywhere, doubled with Chad’s and Dave’s help. Weapons were scattered on top of them, some of them still brown with the dried blood. Pain’s new gear set lay on the floor, left where it had landed after falling off her bed, apparently. Jane grimaced. It was difficult enough to live with her sister, an actual chaos worshipper, who had a habit to jab her knives into walls so she could hang her clothes on them while she was getting dressed. And now she had to deal with the boys, too. Her hopes that maybe Pain would become more organized if the guys stayed with them turned out to be something from an alternate reality. Apparently, even the Queen’s visit wouldn’t make her sister neater.

After Jane picked up and folded the clothes, she moved to the vanity table. It was covered in papers and magazines, smeared with black eyeliner – Pain’s, of course. She was sorting through the things there when she found her sister’s new volume of “One Day” and held it out.

“Where does she keep getting these?” she wondered with a smile. “I thought we just got back, and she’s already got a new one!”

Chad looked at the book, not sure if he should tell her or not.

“Actually, I gave it to her,” he said simply.

Jane’s eyebrows instantly shot up; she turned to look at him.

“Oh, really?” She seemed bemused, and a glint of irony flickered in her eyes, reminding him of Pain.

“Well, yeah, it’s no big deal to help at least with something.” He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. It was difficult with Jane seeing right through him, though.

“Right, because all you had to do was to teleport into some book store, buy the book, and get back here-”

“No, seriously,” he tried to interrupt.

“Or,” she held up her index finger, silencing him, “just borrow it from someone here, because it’s not a problem considering that Nicholls is favorite among our folks. I think I saw Skull have one just like this, with all the kissing on the cover. Did you get it from him?” she finished and blinked at him innocently.

Chad stared back with mild annoyance.

“No, I would never do that to Skull. The man has his right to wallow in drama. It’s actually much simpler. I met Ryan yesterday early in the morning and asked him if he could get me a book from the nearest book store. He agreed and was back with it in twenty minutes. Then you guys woke up. The end,” he explained.

Jane only stared at him, her features frozen in a mask of surprise.

“Hm-mm…” she murmured finally. Chad raised his eyebrows, but she didn’t seem to have any more questions. “No, no, nothing.” She shook her head and returned to her cleaning.

He shrugged to himself and got back to reading, but then he heard her chuckle and raised his eyes at her once again.

“What?”

She waved a hand.

“Oh, nothing, forget it.” But the laughing didn’t stop.

“What??” he asked with more intensity now.

“Well, you said you’re trying to be helpful, but I only see you eager to give things to Pain…” she hinted, and Chad had to make an effort to keep his expression composed.

“Okay… Do you want something, too? You need a book or…?”

“Actually, I was remembering my favorite bra- ”