The Reckoning (Unbounded Series #4) (12 page)

Stella nodded. “Especially not if Delia’s at the other end.”

Maybe if I were seated next to Jeane, but then I still doubted it. She’d have to exert her ability in an equal amount, which would make it impossible for me to connect with Stella. Any way I looked at it, the thing had to come out.

I glanced up to find Jeane staring at me. Even as I met her gaze, her life force winked out of existence as if she consciously exerted just the tiniest bit of her ability around her own body.
The quintessential invisible woman,
I thought. At least to sensing Unbounded.

Something definitely wasn’t right about Jeane. I couldn’t see her thoughts or feel her emotions, but I did know that I would be a fool to trust her.

I DOZED UNTIL WE LANDED
in Houston to refuel, which was thankfully quick, but over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, my exhaustion had vanished. I didn’t want to admit that Jeane’s presence could have that much influence, but the change was so notable that I had to admit her presence was helping.

But I wasn’t about to give her any satisfaction by telling her so.

Our flight had been less than ten hours, including refueling, but getting through customs at the airport in Guayana City took another hour, even with Renegade connections and a few well-placed bribes with Venezuelan officials. It wasn’t something we could hurry since our cargo wasn’t exactly on the approved list of items allowed into the country, but Ava’s contacts ultimately came through. Soon we were camped in a cheap hotel located on the western edge of Guayana City.

“Here? Really?” Jeane said when she saw the narrow room with its stained carpet and dingy gray bedspreads. “This is their deluxe suite?”

“It’s not as if we’ll be sleeping here,” Mari told her. “It’s just a base camp while we wait for our Iranian operative. And the Emporium won’t exactly be hanging out in a dive like this. Think of it as going incognito.”

“Slumming, you mean.” Jeane leaned over and blew dust off a picture frame on the wall to prove her point.

Ritter turned his back on her in apparent frustration. “Azima’s flight won’t arrive for a few hours yet.” He picked up a large duffel holding his favorite SA58 FAL assault rifle, laid it on the foot of one of the queen beds, and unzipped the bag. “That gives us time to scope out the factory. See what kind of security they have on the outside.”

“According to the building renovation plans that were filed,” Stella said, “they have several layers of entry before reaching the actual place where they produce the plutonium. It won’t be easy to get in.” She began setting up her computer on a small square table that was barely large enough to hold two laptops. The molded plastic chairs looked like something you could pick up at a hardware store for less than ten bucks each—and every bit as uncomfortable.

Satisfied that his rifle had made the trip intact, Ritter straightened. “Our best bet is to take the plutonium
after
it leaves the factory but
before
it leaves Venezuela.”

“Shadrach said he had contacts here.” Cort carried Jeane’s suitcase in one hand and his duffel in the other. “Maybe they’ll be able to help.” After looking around, he dropped the bags against the wall, pushing them over slightly with his foot as Jace and Keene added more duffels to the pile.

“Even so, they won’t allow any special visitors, not with the plutonium about to go out, so we’d better hope he has something to bring to the table. Something more than just an address.” Ritter’s words showed his reluctance to depend on an unknown entity.

“Shadrach Azima is a capable man.” Stella said. “I’ve known him a long time. He’s joining us precisely because he has something to share.”

Ritter relaxed marginally at her words. “Hopefully, but I want to make sure we have a backup plan—and a way out if things screw up.”

“I still think the employees are our best bet,” Jace said. “Or at least an angle we can work.”

We’d already hashed all this out on the flight over and really could finalize nothing until Azima arrived. Every plan we’d come up with so far depended either on getting Stella into their computer system so we could disarm everything long enough to get the plutonium or taking the cargo once it left the factory. The one thing we all agreed on was that we needed to seize the plutonium before it reached Lebanon or Syria. Pinpointing the exact location of the plutonium would be up to me, hopefully with help from Azima. That meant using my ability.

“We’ll know more once I get a feel for the setup.” Ritter’s eyes scanned the group. “Jace and Cort, you come with me. Keene and Mari, you track down the leads Stella has on the people who work at the factory. We’ll report back in two hours.”

I stared at him. “I can’t pinpoint a location inside the factory if I stay here.”

“We won’t be getting close enough for any of that. We’ll all go back together once Azima’s here.”

I knew what he was doing, and I hated it. But he was the leader, and I couldn’t challenge his decision in front of the others. “Can I talk to you for a minute alone?” I didn’t keep the ice from my voice. Everyone else was suddenly very busy, their eyes elsewhere—except for Jeane, who stared at us with a seductive smile on her face, as if watching us somehow gave her a thrill.

“Sure.” His tone was as solid as my ice.

We went into the hall, and I started to put space between us and the room, but Ritter stopped me. “Better not to get too far from Jeane.”

I whirled on him, keeping my voice low but forceful. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it? Her and that snake in my head.”

His brow furrowed, and he shook his head slowly. “This is about protecting the most vital part of our plan. Without you, Erin, finding that plutonium is going to be a hell of a lot harder. Yes, if that thing weren’t eating away inside you, I’d want you with us, but it is there and we need to work around it. I certainly can’t be dragging Jeane around the factory, can I? And you going without her right now is a risk.”

My shoulders slumped as all the indignation left me. He was right. I hated it, but he was right. If I endangered myself before we knew where to focus my ability, I might not have enough energy to complete the mission.

His expression didn’t show pity, for which I was grateful. “Cort will fill in for you, and you babysit Jeane for him. Choke her again if you need to. That should cheer you up.”

I grinned despite myself. “I wonder if her ability would still work as a barrier to Delia if she was unconscious.”

“It might be worth looking into.” He stepped closer to me, ignoring a couple that had emerged from one of the nearby rooms. “I’ll be back soon.” It was a promise that slid over my skin like his bare hand, reminding me of our future together.

“Be careful,” I said.

He answered seriously. “I always am—now.” Because there had been a time in the recent past when he’d cared for little but revenge. Now he had me, and that made the difference between a life of recklessness and what might actually be considered a future.

He went back inside the room for his rifle, and I contented myself by kicking the wall for several long seconds. A man at the other end of the hall stared at me, his thoughts screaming that I must be on drugs.

Pulling my mental shield more tightly over my mind to block out all the unshielded mortals in the hotel, I reached for the door just as the others began filing out. As he passed, Keene’s eyes dug into mine, but I didn’t hold his gaze.

“Mari,” I said, “don’t let Keene talk you into anything crazy.”

“I’ll take care of her,” Keene answered.

I wasn’t really worried. Scoping out a few factory employees shouldn’t be dangerous. Mari could always shift back here, and Keene could take care of himself. He’d already come back from the dead several times—and that was before his Change had made him one of us.

I felt Ritter moving away with Jace and Cort, our connection strong despite my shield. By contrast, Keene was completely dark to me. As he and Mari moved away, I stopped him. “What do you know about Delia and her bindings?”

Keene’s eyes narrowed as he studied me. “I never heard of them. Sorry.”

I wanted to ask him if he knew what his ability was, but I couldn’t break his confidence because Mari wasn’t aware of his Change. Keene’s brother, Cort, shared their father’s ability in science and seeing the patterns in atoms, thus being able to invent new drugs, treatments, and even machinery, but Keene had a different mother, a mortal one, though her parents had been Unbounded. Keene believed his father had loved her, but Cort hinted that their father had been responsible for her death after she’d become terminally ill. The difference in opinion was still a source of disagreement for the brothers. I believed Cort, but I envied Keene’s faith in a man who had treated him like a second-class citizen—a mortal—for years.

“I still have a few contacts inside the Emporium,” he said. “I’ll put out a few feelers about bindings when we get back.”

“Thanks.” I didn’t have to ask him to keep it off the record. Keene worked with us and he felt like family, but there was a large part of him he kept locked away. It reminded me of Ritter when I’d first met him. Keene never expected anything, and in return he didn’t share all his comings and goings, even when they sometimes concerned the group.

Stella glanced up from the table as I moved into the room, her headset blinking. “I’m into the hotel’s computer, but there’s nothing we can use. I’m checking the other locations they have connections with. The firewalls are a joke.”

They probably were for Stella. “Great. Let me know if you find anything.”

My forced inactivity wasn’t really Jeane’s fault, and I tried not to glare at her as I approached the bed where she sat. Her eyes followed me, more wary now that most of the others were gone. I felt a twinge of guilt at that, but her next comment killed any sympathy.

“I don’t blame you for being mad about not going,” she said, tossing her head. “I’d sure like to get him alone.” Him, meaning Ritter, of course.

I bit back a retort because alienating her further wouldn’t help my cause. “Tell me everything you know about Delia.” I might have to stay with Jeane, but I intended to put the time to good use.

“Delia,” Jeane said, as if deep in thought. She started to stretch out on the pillows but at the last moment wrinkled her nose and settled for bringing up her stockinged feet onto the worn coverlet. “She is definitely the strongest of the Triad members. Stefan Carrington is the face, the one apparently in charge, and Tihalt McIntyre is the brains. He’s actually much like Cort, though he doesn’t have the conscience his son does—or either of his sons apparently.”

“Delia,” I reminded her.

Jeane laughed. “She controls both Stefan and Tihalt. Oh, Stefan is strong, but Delia controls more of the little things, and those are what make up the whole. Everyone is afraid of her. Together Delia and Stefan are the Emporium.” She smiled, revealing all her teeth. If I tilted my head I could see her throat. It was an unprotected expression, one that seemed trusting, but it unnerved me. “You Renegades should concentrate more on removing them than taking down the entire organization.”

I had no love for Stefan, who because of Delia’s manipulations thought I was his biological daughter, when in fact Jace had been the beneficiary of his stolen sperm—not something I had shared with him yet and hoped not to for a long time. But I had already determined that Delia was the most dangerous of the two. I’d thought I was approaching a point that I could best her, but what happened today with that snake in my head had changed everything.

“And how can we get rid of Delia?” I asked, noting that Stella was now watching us and not her computer.

All gaiety fled from Jeane’s face. “Kill her. That’s the only way she’ll be stamped out for good. Otherwise, at full life expectancy, she’ll terrorize the earth for another three hundred years.”

Jeane arose from the bed. “But it’s not a simple sword that will kill her. To get that far, you’ll have to make it through her people and then through her shields. I’ve seen her hold a dozen combat soldiers in place with the strength of her mind.”

“She can’t hold me.” Not unless I allowed her to. Or at least she couldn’t before the snake had grown.

Jeane stepped closer to me, staring into my face. We were about the same height, but she had a fragile look about her that had nothing to do with being imprisoned for two decades. I didn’t fool myself that the fragility extended to her mind.

“You could defeat her,” she said. “And I’ll help you.”

We stared at each other for a few minutes. I still felt nothing from her except the glowing of her life force, and that was something that emanated from every living thing in differing degrees, insects to humans. Yes, she could hide that telltale sign much like a sensing Unbounded could, but she could also nullify the Unbounded around Delia, and maybe Delia herself, so that I’d have a better chance at beating the old crone.

Provided Jeane didn’t have some alternate plan that involved handing me over to Delia.

“Can Delia block you?” I asked. Because though Jeane could nullify others’ abilities, my experience had shown me that the stronger an ability became, the more it overrode others with a similar ability. Delia had once bested me, but I’d more than held my own at our last encounter. And that meant I’d grown. If Delia were stronger than Jeane, she should be able to override the woman’s effect on her ability.