Tainted Energy (The Energy Series Book 1) (25 page)

Letting
him off the hook, I snuggled beside him and closed my eyes. His arms wrapped me
up and held tight for a few minutes, his chest hiccupping. Didn't have to look
up to know he cried.

After one
big cleansing sigh moved his chest, his voice grew stronger. "Okay, let's
do this."

"I'm
not moving."

"You
don't have to. Just keep your eyes closed."

After my
nod, he went silent. In a matter of seconds, his body became warm and then
scorching. I stayed close, not feeling the least bit guilty that I absorbed as
much of his heat as possible. My lids stayed slammed over my eyes, though. When
his energy separated, I had to use every ounce of willpower not to open them. Yes,
the urge to follow his light out the window was a tad stronger than I would
ever have admitted aloud.

Before
he left, his energy ran over my body until it reached my feet. Through my dad's
old shoes, my toes ignited with succulent heat, taking away any lingering cold.

The act softened
me a little more. "Be careful," I said, not knowing if he heard me.

After he
left, my heartbeat returned to normal. Dad's screeching registered as my ears
began to work again, too. I opened my eyes to find him huddling in the corner,
staring out the window in terror. Moving closer to Zander's body, I tried to
ignore him, but after a few minutes of listening to his whining, anger overrode
the need to sleep.

"Damn
it!"

I leapt
onto my newly warmed feet and went to stand over my father. He looked at me
with the pleading eyes of a lost puppy.

I
punched him square in the nose.

The loud
crack of my knuckles connecting with his face had me jumping back, a little
awed by the sound. Unfortunately, that hit made him cry harder. Balling up my
already sore fist, I put all my strength behind another punch, this time to his
jaw. His snores clouded the room in seconds.

That did
the job.

Shaking
my hand, I climbed on the smelly bed, letting the warmth and the memory of last
night send me to unconsciousness.

Tarek

Exemplar…

D
izziness attacked his brain the
moment his eyes opened. Clenching his jaw, he fought the nausea and waited for
the world to stop spinning. It was no mystery where he lay–on a bed in a cell
under the authority building. Of course, the bed was as soft as a cloud and the
room stayed at a perfect seventy-four degrees. They were civilized here, right?
No need to make someone uncomfortable right before slaughter.

Yes,
they knew how to be civil.

Bastards.

He
pulled himself up, careful not to make any sudden moves. A thin layer of sweat
made his prison-issued cotton shirt and matching pants stick to his legs and
chest.

One
shot. That's all it took to knock him on his ass for hours–hopefully. Sometimes
it lasted for days.

Here
it comes
…

He
stumbled to the bathroom in time to save the front of his shirt from being
decorated with puke. Side effects of tasing were never fun, especially with a
cocktail of paralyzing sedatives laced through the jolt. The toilet received
all his affection. Hard tile wasn't as comfortable as the bed, but he sat on
the bathroom floor anyway until the worst of the nausea subsided.

Cold
water to the face helped, rinsing his mouth out felt even better. He half-crawled
back to the bed, refusing to lay down and give in to his body's craving for
sleep. Another hour of sitting completely still ticked by before the room
stopped moving and his stomach decided to give him a break.

The
execution would be soon, Exemplians didn't believe in prolonging the
inevitable. His energy would read pure, but Lena's should have, too. No doubt
Mateusz would fudge his reading like he did hers.

Farren
better have gone to Wilma, or…

Damn. He'd
be dead within the next couple of hours.

No sense
wasting energy trying to open a portal–the building had a block for guys like
him.

A knock
on the door made him tense. It'd only take one good hit to drop whoever walked
through. He'd figure out the rest once he made it into the hallway. When the
door opened, Tarek's body coiled, itching to strike. If he had to die, might as
well take one or two with him.

Listen
up! Don't do anything stupid. Just sit through his bullshit, and we'll get you
out.

Wilma.

Hiding
the smile took a hell of a lot more effort than keeping the contents of his
stomach off his shirt. Who would've thought that woman's craggy voice could
relax him?

Mateusz
waltzed in, his head sporting a couple bandages, and sat at the small, metal
table in the middle of the room. He gestured for Tarek to sit as though they
were about to have dinner.

Sure, he'd
play this game.

Tarek sat
in the cool, low-backed chair and waited as the guy took time to set up his
computer. Wilma's promise was the only thing keeping Mateusz's teeth in his
mouth.

"Now,"
Mateusz cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table, "Tarek
Montague, you have been charged with the cycle-interfering of a Tainted."
His voice as calm as ever, continued, "Do you have anything you'd like to
say before punishment is carried out?"

"Is
she worth it?"

The
older Protector kept his face placid, saying nothing. He couldn't hide that
little twitch by his right eye, though.

No, the
silent act wouldn't work today. "Well?"

The
twitch went into overdrive. Mateusz stood, eye going crazy, and went to turn
off the corner receptors and video feed before sitting back down. "The boy
spilled it, did he? Ah, well, guess I owe you something."

"You
think?"

Acting
like he hadn't heard, Mateusz continued, his voice professional. "Kendal
went to Arcus, years ago, asking Casimir for help."

"And
Lena knew."

Mateusz
nodded. "Lena came to me, told me she'd found a group of Exemplians
siphoning energy to him, bringing him…people to experiment with. Kendal's name
topped the list." Mateusz's eyes clouded. "Lena thought I could talk
sense into her, warned she'd go above my head if the situation wasn't resolved.
Now…why would she think I'd let that go? Would you have, if someone threatened
Lena?"

Don't do
anything stupid.

Right.

"I
took care of her the next day, gave her a Tainted. She's lucky Wilma fought for
her. I wanted her energy annihilated."

Tarek's fists
curled under the table, and keeping his ass on the chair caused sweat to soak
his shirt.

"For
years after, Kendal stayed away from Arcus, even worked for the Synod, took on
a Guide. But she couldn't handle it: the life, the repetition. She wanted to
live, feel–with me. Said she couldn't do that here, and so she went to Casimir
again, believing he had the answers. He killed her, Tarek, for her energy.
Think about what you would have done in my position."

"I
am in your position–because of you."

"Yes,
well, Lena's fault, really. She was always so damn…involved." A shaky hand
ran through his hair. "And that insipid Guide…what do all of you see in
that girl?"

"Go
to hell."

Anger
flashed in Mateusz's eyes, decaying the calm persona. "You should've killed
the kid. I'd have made a deal with you, Lena's notes for your life."

"My
life is worthless without her. The last seventeen years should've clued you in."
His patience wasn't going to last much longer.

"Yes,
but those notes have names of people willing to help. People who wouldn't fail
under pressure like Zander. Maybe I would've even thrown in Lena's life if you
would've killed that
goddamned kid
."

To keep
his fists off the guy's face, he concentrated on the door. "Guess I
screwed up."

"As
soon as I sensed that boy's energy lurking around, trying to not be seen, I
knew you gave him a choice. Always so noble, aren't you?" Mateusz threw
his glasses on the table, rubbed his eyes, and opened his computer. "You
are sentenced to recycling. Don't worry, I'll recommend they send your energy
somewhere fairly evolved. And lucky for you, you won't remember any of this."

An
official hologram energy reading with Tarek's name on the top brightened up the
room. The red stamp,
TAINTED,
marred the bottom margin.

Well, that
was quick. Guess an official Guide reading wasn't even needed.

"You
do realize what will happen if Casimir gets Wilma's energy?"

Mateusz
let the hologram float above the table for a minute as he gathered his things. "I
don't care."

∞ ∞ ∞

Tarek's
leg bounced as his eyes stayed glued to the door. "Okay, Wilma. Now would
be a great time."

She
couldn't hear him, which was good because the few choice words he called her would
only have gotten his ass kicked. Obviously she knew when Mateusz walked in. No way
could the timing of her warning have been a coincidence. She had to know when
the bastard left…

He
tapped on the table. The tepid air blowing through the vents cooled the sweat
running down his spine. Ten minutes passed, then twenty, and still no Wilma. He
pushed up from the seat, on the verge of losing it.

The door
latch clicked.

Farren,
his face tense, shut the door. Without acknowledging Tarek, the guy touched the
communicator on his ear. "I'm in. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Be there in
twenty." He looked at Tarek. "You ready?"

"About
two hours ago." Relief had his knees shaking.

The guy's
face darkened in a blotchy crimson pattern, a by-product of red hair. "Ah,
sorry, yeah, I had to be sure. Wasn't going to let you go until I talked to
Wilma. Mateusz–knew that son of a bitch was shady for a while, and when he
rushed to get to you...
you
…"

Farren
scratched behind the ear holding his communicator and winced. No doubt it was
Wilma's raspy voice yelling through it. "Want you to know Wilma almost
ripped my head off when I told her what went down. She's pretty pissed I
brought you here."

Tarek
smiled. At least he wasn't the only one intimidated by the woman. "Just…thanks,
man. You have nothing to explain. And don't worry about Mateusz. I'll take care
of him." His gut tightened, but he had to ask. "Has she…Lena?"

"Damn
right, you will. And I'm supposed to tell you she's fine, so don't go all
crazy." He grinned with a wink. "I have orders to take you to the
execution facility. Covert thing. He doesn't want anybody knowing you're here.
A lot of people are still mad about Lena–there'd be an outright rebellion if
word got out you were on the chopping block." He gave a quick snort. "Wouldn't
that be something?"

Even
Exemplian executions were civilized. Like animals, they were put in a room and
euthanized with one scorching prick of a needle. No fanfare, no hype, just a
noxious poison that put them to sleep without a wakeup call.

Well, there
wasn't any hype unless the public found out a favorite was accused. When they
recycled Lena, the authority had to control protests for weeks. The backlash
shocked the Synod, seeing as how emotion–about anything–was rare. His
popularity was by default only because she loved him.

"So,
what? We're just going to walk out of here?"

"That's
the plan." Farren unclasped a set of cuffs from his belt. "Put these
on."

The
restraints were made of flimsy, soft gallium, easy to break unless activated. One
push of a remote and the cuffs melted in slow intervals into the skin, slowing
the synapses in the brain and turning the wearer into a drooling shell. The
cuffs created complacency in criminals to avoid any violence.

Civilized
monsters were more dangerous.

He
hesitated, moving backward toward the bed. "I'm not putting those on."

Farren
charged him, that damn smile still on his face. "You're wasting time,
brother."

Tarek
shook his head, the backs of his legs brushing up against the mattress. Brains
never worked the same after a long stint in those cuffs, even in later cycles,
like it damaged the energy itself. Every Protector in the building had a
universal remote that worked on all the restraints within a two-foot range.

"I'll
unlock them as soon as we hit my ride." Farren inched closer. When Tarek
shook his head again, the smiling ginger snatched one of his wrists and snapped
on a cuff while reaching for the other hand. "Come on, man. We have to
make it look official."

"Damn
it! Give me your remote."

Farren
shoved the tiny black rectangle in Tarek's pocket. "Happy? Let's get the
hell out of here."

"Is
Wilma still at my place?"

"Ah,
yeah, no. The field's crawling with authority."

When the
guy's face went all red again, Tarek's nerves shot through the ceiling. "Something
you're not saying?"

Farren
opened the door. "She told me not to tell you anything until we were on
our way. Didn't want you causing a scene."

Ah,
shit.