The Price of Disrespect (Gray Spear Society Book 6) (19 page)

"Let's take blood samples and get out of here," Smythe said. "I think we'll have to mark this assignment down as a failure. Damn. It seemed like a good idea, and we executed it well."

He had brought syringes in his pocket. He filled them with blood taken from Powell's arm.

The team headed out to the van, leaving Powell on the examination table. Smythe and Odelia seemed lost in their thoughts as they walked in silence. Even Norbert's mood was a little down.

Tawni felt a small bit of gratification. It was comforting to know the Gray Spear Society didn't always succeed. The miraculous powers of its members had limits.

On the other hand, she had wanted to know what was wrong with Powell. She had seen the insanity in his eyes. Something very bad was happening in Chicago, her home town.

The drive back to headquarters was just as quiet. It gave Tawni too much time to think about her dead mother.

To distract herself, she said, "Odelia, what is your team in Los Angeles like?"

"My boss looks like a real freak," Odelia said. "He scared the hell out of me the first time I saw him, but now he's one of my favorite people in the world. My number one favorite is sitting right here."

She smiled at Smythe, and he smiled back.

"Is he just as nasty as Aaron?" Tawni said.

"What are you talking about?" Odelia said. "Aaron is a great, compassionate leader."

"Not to me."

"You might see his better nature if you had a better attitude."

Tawni just looked out the window at the other cars on the highway.

Eventually, they arrived at headquarters. The team went straight to the conference room to have a meeting with Aaron. He wanted to hear their report at once.

Aaron and Wesley were already seated in the room. The new arrivals found chairs around the huge table.

"Wait," Aaron said. "The twins are finishing up some research for me. Let's give them a few minutes."

Everybody settled back in their chairs. Tawni realized she was hungry. She hadn't really checked out the kitchen, yet. That would be her next stop after the meeting.

"I have a question for you," Odelia said to Wesley. "Let's say you had to kill Carlos. How would you do it?"

Tawni leaned forward with interest. The same question had occurred to her.

"I don't know." The boy shook his head.

"There must be some way," Odelia said. "He's not completely invulnerable."

"He can be damaged, but then he just goes away and regenerates."

"How long does that take?"

"Not very long," Wesley said. "Five or ten minutes."

"That's something at least. What's the best way to damage him?"

"His skin is like dry cowhide. A hot fire will burn him."

"An incendiary?" she said.

He nodded. "Or a bomb blast. But don't miss. The last thing you want to do is make Carlos angry. He has a temper."

"What about the rest of the protection team?"

"Yvonne and Atalanta are tough to kill, but a big gun will do it. I'd use a .50 caliber rifle or an RPG. Charles is vulnerable to normal weapons, if you can see him."

Tawni wondered why Wesley was being so open with this information.
He really must not like those guys,
she thought. She also wondered what made Yvonne and Atalanta so "tough." What did Wesley mean by "if you can see him?"

Bethany and Leanna walked into the room. They still wore the white shirts and pleated red skirts that Tawni found childish and unattractive. They apparently didn't like to wear shoes.

"Sorry we're late," Bethany said.

The twins took their seats.

"Let's hear your report," Aaron said.

"Unfortunately, it won't be a long one, sir," Smythe said. "We gave the patient a very thorough examination and found nothing wrong. Odelia and I both looked hard. We picked a good subject to examine, too. I could tell he was affected as soon as I walked in the room."

"How could you tell?"

"His eyes didn't move naturally. His skin color and breathing indicated extreme anxiety."

Tawni hadn't picked up those details. She needed to start paying more attention if she wanted to keep up with this team.

"That's annoying," Aaron said.

"I have blood samples," Smythe said, "but if Odelia couldn't detect anything with her gift, I doubt we'll have more luck in the laboratory. I'll perform the analysis anyway, sir."

"Bethany, I hope you have better news."

Bethany turned on the conference room computer. Monitors on a wall lit up.

"Leanna and I tried to determine the precise boundaries of the phenomenon," she said. "We looked at every incident and found the home addresses of all the participants. We excluded typical background violence. A pattern emerged."

A map of Chicago appeared on a monitor. Two red blobs were placed over the map, and they had clean, angular boundaries. One blob covered a big portion of the western side of the city, and the other was on the southern side. The borders followed the major streets in many places.

Everybody studied the map for a moment. Tawni's home neighborhood was inside the western blob.

"That's good work for a couple of scrawny geeks," she said.

A gunshot made everybody in the room jump. Tawni looked over and saw Aaron holding a smoking pistol.

"That was inappropriate," Aaron said. "Apologize to the ladies."

She swallowed. "Apologize for what, sir? They work for me. I can call them what I want."

"The first statement is true. The second is false. I'd never belittle a member of my team, and I expect everybody else to follow the same rule. All of us have earned the right to be treated with respect."

"You don't respect me."

"I recruited you, didn't I?" he said. "That's a high honor. I've spent months looking for somebody like you. And you're still alive despite misbehavior that would've gotten you killed if Ethel were still the commander. I couldn't be more respectful." He pointed the gun at her face. "Apologize."

Tawni didn't doubt he would pull the trigger. His expression was murderous, and he was casting an unnaturally dark shadow. The effect was more than just a trick of the light.

She faced the twins. "I'm sorry. I was trying to be funny. I guess it didn't come out that way. You're not geeks."

"We accept your apology," Bethany said with a puzzled little frown.

Aaron put away his gun. "This map is very interesting," he said. "It strongly suggests there is poison in the food or the water in those parts of the city."

Tawni let out a sigh of relief.

"I agree, sir," Odelia said. "Infectious diseases don't spread like that. Pollution in the air wouldn't be so well contained. I think somebody is specifically targeting those neighborhoods."

"I want food and water samples collected today. Tawni and Norbert will take the western region. Smythe and Odelia will take the southern region. Try to cover as much ground as possible, but don't stay out late."

"What about me?" Wesley said. "I want to go."

Aaron looked at the boy. "I gave you a helicopter tour of Chicago this morning. Wasn't that enough excitement?"

"No, sir. That wasn't work."

"You're asking me to send you into an area we already know is dangerous."

"Yes, sir." Wesley nodded eagerly.

Aaron sighed and appeared weary. "Go with Smythe."

"Thank you."

Smythe and Odelia exchanged nervous glances.

"Sir," Smythe said, "we're going to bring back a lot of material to analyze. Hundreds of unique samples. Our facilities here are limited. Really, it's just me and Kamal, and he's a physicist. It could take months of lab work to find what we're looking for, if we can find it at all. We don't have that much time."

"That's a good point," Aaron said. "Let me think about it. The meeting is adjourned. We'll reconvene here at six o'clock tonight."

Chapter Eight

Aaron watched his team file out of the conference room. When they were gone, he sat alone. The weight of his responsibilities as a commander seemed particularly heavy right now. The riots in Chicago were already a crisis, and the investigation was getting little traction. He was still sending his people out on fishing expeditions instead of pursuing solid leads. Tawni and Wesley were adding layers of difficulty to an already messy situation.

He had to make a call that he had hoped to avoid. He took out his phone and dialed Ethel's number.

"Hello," she said in an abrupt tone. She wasn't a fan of small-talk.

"I'm calling to report on the Wesley situation, ma'am," Aaron said. "I know you're interested."

"Very."

"It's not going well. I'm doing my best to keep him out of trouble, but he's not cooperating. His protection team is living in the hotel, and they're intruding in my business at inconvenient times. Charles has been demanding and rude. Carlos is... terrifying."

"I wish I had some good advice to offer," Ethel said. "It sounds tough. I'll be happy to come there if you need me."

"Not yet, ma'am, but I may accept your offer soon. I feel like I'm losing control of my own headquarters. I have another problem. We think somebody is poisoning thousands of people in Chicago. We're planning to collect a huge number of samples, but we don't have the resources or time to analyze them."

"That's something I can help with. Ever since the carnival mission, I've been concerned about the Society's poor ability to detect exotic chemical and biological weapons. If our enemies are going to use them, we need to have that kind of analysis in our bag of tricks. When I became the legate, one of my first projects was filling that need."

Aaron felt a ray of hope. "What did you do?"

"I asked the cell in Atlanta to create a new laboratory that the entire division can share. It's staffed by scientists from the Centers for Disease Control. They believe the project is part of a top secret antiterrorism program. All of them are sworn to absolute secrecy. The lab just opened for business, and your samples sound like the perfect warm-up assignment. You should start getting results back very quickly. Call the commander in Atlanta for more information."

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll do that right now. I should be able to deliver the samples tonight."

"Is that all?" she said.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I have total faith in you. I'm sure you're doing the best job possible. Bye."

The call ended. Aaron wished he shared her confidence.

* * *

Smythe pointed at a building that was five stories tall and very wide. Pollution had stained the red bricks almost to black in places. Exposed concrete pillars added to the impression of a fortress that had been through a war. Wood covered all the windows, and grids of steel bars provided added security on the lower floors.

"There it is," he said. "The Chicago headquarters that never was."

"What do you mean?" Odelia said.

"Aaron convinced Xavier this was our home. It was part of the trap that killed Xavier. We still own the building."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"We're cleaning it up," he said. "It was full of toxic waste when we bought it."

Construction equipment and trailers occupied the parking lot beside the building. Men were going in and out through a back door. All of them wore gas masks, and most also had heavy rubber gloves and tall rubber boots.

"Then what?" Odelia said.

Smythe shrugged. "We're not sure. Aaron has a notion of constructing an emergency headquarters in the basement. He always likes having a backup plan ready, and this building is perfect for us. Now would be a good time to start a big project like that. The upper floors could be turned into condos. Let's keep moving."

They were walking east on Cermak Road. A long time ago, heavy industry had occupied this part of Chicago. Most of the companies had left, but the big, ugly factory buildings had remained. Empty lots with weeds and loose litter filled some of the spaces in between.

Wesley was a few paces in front. The boy wore a blue coat which was a little too heavy for the weather, but it covered a ballistic vest underneath. He was smiling, obviously happy to be outside and exploring the city on a nice, spring day. A light breeze teased his straight, brown hair. In direct sunlight, his transcendent beauty was hypnotic.

Smythe and Odelia held hands as they followed him. Both adults carried red plastic coolers in their free hands. The coolers were full of ice and the many samples they had collected so far. The three of them had already walked several miles, and the coolers were starting to feel heavy. Odelia kept shifting hers from hand to hand but she wasn't complaining.

Smythe glanced over his shoulder. He hadn't seen any hint that Wesley's protection team was following, but it wouldn't be a surprise. At least they were staying well out of sight.

After walking another mile, Smythe started to see signs written in Chinese. Many of the pedestrians were Asian.

"Oh, is this Chinatown?" Odelia said.

"Yes, but don't get too excited. It's not as impressive as the one in Los Angeles."

A long, two-story strip mall dominated the center of Chinatown. More than fifty stores occupied the closely packed, commercial spaces. The windows on the second floor were a variety of different shapes, a festive touch. Smythe couldn't even guess at the meaning of most of the signs.

Odelia took the lead, and Smythe and Wesley followed. She walked along the store fronts and looked in through the windows. She grinned with delight at what she found.

She went into a store that specialized in traditional Chinese clothing. Smythe frowned as he followed her inside. They were on an assignment and couldn't afford to waste time. He decided to give her five minutes.

Most of the clothing made prominent use of the colors red and gold. He ran his fingers along the sleeve of an embroidered silk jacket for a woman. The workmanship was exquisite. Next to it was a blue dress showing dragons portrayed with golden thread.

He noticed Wesley was grimacing and shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" Smythe said.

"The clerk. She needs my help."

Smythe looked at the person behind the cash register. She was a young, Chinese woman in a cute pink dress. A jade clip held her hair back. She had a lost, sad expression on her face.