The MORE Trilogy (87 page)

“This powerful sensor Andreas has? What do you know of him?”

She frowned. “Andreas handles Bureau business. I don’t know much about the inner workings.”

“Still, this sensor is more powerful than any I’d ever heard of before—Gideon, too, for that matter.” Madeleine stiffened at the name, but Caleb pretended not to notice. “He helped Tiernan track me across hundreds of miles, Mother.”

“You’re joking.”

Caleb let out a startled laugh. “You didn’t know?”

“No, I had no idea,” she said, pulling the collar of her coat up around her ears. “Andreas didn’t tell me a thing. I knew, of course, that the Bureau was tracking you, given the situation with Borré’s escape, but the details . . .”

“Maybe he was trying to spare you.”

“I should still be informed. The whole Council should have been made aware of such a gift.”

An idea began to form in Caleb’s mind. He almost hesitated to voice it. “There’s more.”

“More?” She turned to him with an arched brow. “What do you mean?”

“It’s possible the sensor is a Half-Breed I was sent to retrieve for the Guardians.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “A Half-Breed? Working in the Protection Bureau?”

“I don’t know for sure. It seems like too much of a coincidence, for Evan to disappear and Andreas to acquire a sensor shortly after.” He shook his head ruefully. “I can’t believe I didn’t even think to ask Andreas the sensor’s name.”

His mother stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and grabbed his arm to stop him. “All right, I think you need to start at the beginning and tell me exactly what happened,” she said. “Obviously, I’ve been left out of the loop on a few things. Important things.” She looked supremely annoyed at the idea.

Caleb took a deep breath and told his mother about being sent to take the Half-Breed, a sensor named Evan, to the Guardian Colony. He described how’d he’d been intercepted and his mind had been tampered with.

His mother nodded—she knew much of the details concerning the Emma debacle already—but frowned when he explained that Andreas had told Tiernan about an extraordinarily powered sensor who could track over long distances, and that it was only when Caleb had been released from the compulsion that they had put together the possibility that the Half-Breed Evan and Andreas’ sensor could be one and the same.

“But now, I’m wondering—”

“If he’s not a Half-Breed at all?” Madeleine started to walk again, and Caleb hurried to catch up. “It would fit. Living in the human world, gifts beyond the norm. It makes sense.”

“Another one of the Twelve, here this whole time?” Caleb mused.

“It’s possible,” Madeleine said, quickening her pace as she dialed her phone. “Whatever’s going on at my office can wait. We need to get to the Bureau to find out exactly who—and what—this Evan is.”

A chill of apprehension shot up Caleb’s spine. “And if he’s one of the Twelve?”

Madeleine held up a finger as she instructed her assistant to reschedule the rest of the day. “If he is,” she said as she hung up, “then we’ll discuss, as a group, how to move forward.”

Caleb’s lips lifted. “It sounds like you’re ready to proceed with the alliance.”

“As if there were any doubt,” Madeleine said, a determined set to her shoulders as they walked through the front doors of the central building. “As if I ever had a choice.”

The Protection Bureau occupied two floors below ground in New Elysia’s central building. Ava wasn’t sure exactly what she’d expected—the stereotypical police headquarters perhaps, with scruffy, puffy-eyed agents poring over case files and guzzling coffee. Maybe something more sci-fi with holographic computer screens and a wall of laser rifles.

Maybe I’ve seen too many movies.

In reality, the main surveillance room was a little more than the first, and a little less than the second. It was circular, an apparent theme in the city, with a screen in the center of the room that could be seen from any direction. Of course, the word
screen
was a bit of a misnomer. There was no actual screen to be seen, just projections of maps, photographs, and other data that flashed by in layers of text and images.

Ava watched the flickering lights and wondered how anybody was able to keep up.

Surrounding the screen, four rows of white tables—too sleek to be called desks, really, but they apparently functioned as such—radiated out like a bull’s-eye, the last row hugging the curved walls, with the chairs on the inside facing out at more projected images flittering along the painted surface. Protectors and surveillance agents sat at some of the desks, examining their own monitors or consulting quietly with one other. Other chairs were empty with papers and computer pads stacked neatly before them.

It was obviously more technologically advanced than anything Ava had seen before—even at the Guardian compound—but at the same time, it seemed somehow normal. Maybe she was getting used to this strange new world after all.

Maybe. Kinda. Sorta.

Enough so she wasn’t shocked when someone did something amazing, something that
should
be impossible, or when a creature that looked more angel than human walked into the room.

“This is Le Kwon, head of Bureau Surveillance,” Andreas said, holding out a hand as the woman approached.

She was tall, probably six foot or better, Ava guessed, with glowing porcelain skin and long, glossy blue-black hair that hung—flowed, really—down her lower back. Like most Protectors, she was dressed in black from head to toe and her almond-shaped eyes, green and gold and topped by delicately arched brows, took in the scene with calm intent. Even without saying a word, she exuded authority and efficiency. She reminded Ava a bit of Katherine, but even more beautiful, like Talia—something she’d once doubted was even possible.

Ava realized she was staring and blinked, her gaze dropping to the floor. She finally looked up when Andreas said her name, and she realized he was introducing them.

“Nice to meet you,” Kwon said, her voice low and husky. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” She looked expectantly at Andreas.

No nonsense
.
I like her.

“New assignment. We’ll need Evan,” Andreas said briskly, scanning the room. “Where is he?”

At the mention of the sensor’s name, Ava exchanged a significant look with Tiernan.

So we were right. Evan is in New Elysia.

“He took a break,” Kwon said. “He was here most of the night tracking a Half-Breed in California—”

“California?” Andreas smiled, obviously pleased. “That’s the farthest yet, isn’t it?”

Kwon tilted her elegant head in acknowledgement. “His gift is remarkable.”

“How did he end up here?” Tiernan asked, beating Ava to it.

“Stroke of luck, actually,” Andreas replied. “Protectors had been dispatched to apprehend him, but he was gone. They tracked him to Canada and found him wandering in the forest.”

Ava glanced at Tiernan, but Andreas apparently caught the silent exchange.

“What is it?” he asked.

She cleared her throat and faced him head-on. “Caleb was bringing him to the Colony when he was intercepted by the Rogues.”

Andreas’ eyes widened. “Well, then. It’s fortunate he was able to escape—both for him and for us, isn’t it?” He turned to Kwon. “We need to find two Race who’ve been abducted by Rogues. They’re both in the database already—Sophie Wright and Isaiah Bennett.”

“The Half-Breeds?”

“Apparently not,” Andreas said wryly.

Kwon picked up a tablet, fingernails clicking as she tapped and swiped. “When were they taken?”

Andreas relayed the information in clipped tones, turned to Gideon, and extended his hand. “The samples?”

Gideon reached into his pocket, but when Ava stiffened beside him, he hesitated and looked at her.

“Caleb’s coming, and he’s not alone,” she said quietly. “I hope everything’s all right.”

Sure enough, a moment later, he and Madeleine walked in wearing identical expressions of grim determination.

“Where’s Evan?” Madeleine asked.

“The man of the hour,” Andreas murmured. “He should be here shortly. Is there a problem?”

Madeleine’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not certain. Perhaps you’d care to explain to me how a suspected Half-Breed came to be working in Bureau headquarters.”

“I don’t believe I like your tone.”

“I don’t believe I give a damn!” Madeleine turned her withering glare on Kwon. “Did you know about this?”

Kwon paled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Clear the room!” Andreas shouted. “Madeleine, calm down,” he said, holding up his hands.

Madeleine waited for the other agents to leave before she said through gritted teeth, “Don’t tell me to calm down. You violated protocol. This should have been brought before the Council, not to mention Kwon.”

“There wasn’t time.”

“There’s
always
time!”

“We needed to find Caleb. The Council made it our top priority!”

“That doesn’t mean we blithely throw away centuries of Law—”

“For God’s sake, Madeleine, I didn’t throw away the Law. I did what I had to do to find. Your. Son.” He slapped the table to emphasize his words, ice blue eyes flashing in anger.

Madeleine scowled at him for a long moment before she took a deep breath, her eyes fluttering closed briefly as she let it out. “Is he a Half-Breed?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Did you even have him tested?”

“I made a judgment call. His gift—”

“Judgment call?” Madeleine’s voice rose again. “After Ava? After everything we’ve learned, you found no need to
test
the boy?”

Andreas slumped slightly. “What exactly are you saying? Do you
 
think—” His gaze darted to Ava.

“I don’t know what to think,” Madeleine snapped. “But you said yourself the boy has an extraordinary gift. It definitely begs the question.”

“Excuse me,” Kwon interjected, raising a hand. “Begs what question? What is going on here?”

Madeleine’s jaw tightened, and it was obvious she was debating how much to reveal.

The room stilled and everyone seemed to hold their breath, waiting for Madeleine to decide.

“If Race security is at risk, I need to know what’s happening,” Kwon said.

With a curt nod, Madeleine filled her in.

She’d just gotten to Sophie and Isaiah’s abduction when the door opened and a teenage boy walked in dressed in baggy jeans and a T-shirt, his blue eyes widening as he took in the scene, focusing quickly on Caleb.

“Hello, Evan,” he said.

“Caleb?” His step faltered then he approached them slowly, his eyes flitting around the group. “Are you . . . okay?”

“Yes, thanks in part to you, if I’m not mistaken.”

The boy’s cheeks flushed, and he shrugged, jamming his hands in his pockets. “It’s no big deal.”

“It
is
a big deal,” Caleb said quietly, laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You probably saved my life.” He patted him once then stepped back. “I want you to meet some people.” He reached out and took Ava’s hand to pull her forward. “This is Ava.”

His wide blue eyes grew even wider, if that were possible. “
The
Ava?”

This time it was Caleb who reddened. “The one and only.”

Ava smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Evan.”

Caleb introduced Tiernan, Gideon, and finally, Madeleine.

His mother seemed content to let her son take the lead, which was odd, but Ava wasn’t going to question it. Her intuition seemed to be feeding on the tension in the room, although she couldn’t tell if it was coming from Kwon’s irritation at being left in the dark, Andreas’ frustration at being questioned, or maybe even Evan’s uncertainty as he tried to figure out why he’d been summoned. She let her mind wander a bit and tried to relax, hoping her gift would do the same. Ava didn’t like feeling so on edge.

“First things first,” Andreas said, acquiescing enough to glance at Madeleine for approval before he turned to Gideon. “The samples?”

The Guardian leader hesitated for a moment before he reached into his pocket to withdraw two vials of blood and handed them to Andreas.