by Lan Chan
“Sure enough that I’m here with you.”
“And you have nothing to do with the drug personally?” Maybe it was my deadpan expression. Maybe it was the clenching of my fist around the puffy white dumpling I’d just picked up, but he held his hands up, palms out. “Just checking.”
“Where did they even find your blood?” Jenny’s frown mirrored Zeke’s. I filled them in on Lily’s theory, though not where she’d gotten that information from. When I was done, there wasn’t a cheerful face around the table.
“You’re their boss,” I said. “You can tell them to back off.”
“The order’s already gone out. I didn’t sign it personally but Senator Collins has the appropriate authority. To rescind it now would seem suspicious.”
I banged my fist on the table. “Who cares how it seems! I’ve been around enough politicians to know that orders don’t get questioned when they come from the right people.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Isn’t it? Or is it because you’d rather not do it?”
“Just for a second, I’m going to play devil’s advocate,” the minister said. “If you’re right and it’s your blood that’s being used—”
“I am right, but whatever.”
His mouth twisted underneath that moustache. “Are you so sure the right place for you isn’t somewhere you can be monitored? We’ve got the best technology in the continent to help—”
My chair scraped back and hit the person sitting behind me on another table as I stood. “Thanks all the same but I know what you stiffs consider monitoring.”
Jenny flagged me back down. I locked my arms around my chest and glared. “Come on, love. Be reasonable.”
Leaning over with my fists to support my weight on the table, I glared at him. “I know it must be a long time since you’ve had any contact with us plebs, but the pretty, sterile world you live in is very different from ours. If I wasn’t an esper, the fact that my blood has been forcibly removed from me would be a civil rights issue. But I am, so it’s going to be a matter of public safety. No one has even mentioned the people using my blood. Just the fact that I’m the origin. And I know they won’t lock me up, because imagine squadrons of super soldiers with whatever I have in me running through their veins patrolling the border with New China.”
“You’ve thought this through.”
“That’s the beauty of being a freak. You never stop thinking about it.”
I almost choked when he smiled. “You’re her, aren’t you? Spectra.”
My knees caved and I landed on my butt at the edge of the chair. It hurt like a mother but I didn’t let out a peep.
Jenny knew me too well. “Jon, tell her you’re not going to say anything to anyone.” Her voice was pained, spiked with urgency. She gripped the fingers of his left hand in a way that was far too familiar for my liking. It didn’t change what I was planning to do.
“I could do that, but I don’t know if she’ll believe me,” the minister said.
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“On the contrary. I know you can at least think before you act. I know you can command the loyalty of friends who would rather commit a federal crime than turn you in. I know you’re clever enough to have masked your identity from agents who have had more training than the years you’ve been alive. And most importantly, I know if I lose you then I lose Jenny. And I might be an out-of-touch old bastard, but I’m not that stupid.”
I snorted. “That’s all well and good. But then where does that leave me? I am the source of Second Sight. Without Jasmine to incubate the nanobots, their reserves will run dry and the city will…you’re going to try and use me as bait, aren’t you?”
He leaned forward, shrewdness in his eyes. “I could do a lot with someone as intuitive as you in my department. Second Sight has spread to New China. Without a source, they’re going to get desperate and they’ll make a play for you. If I can guarantee your safety and discretion, I would like for you to cooperate with us.”
“No way,” Zeke said. “As soon as the information goes public, she’ll become a target. It’s not happening.”
“Think about it,” Jon pleaded. “We’re talking about an international incident.”
“We’re talking about your reputation,” Zeke said. “You haven’t been able to contain it or catch them on home soil, and now they’ve gotten their hooks into New China. That’s not our problem. Nobody can know about her.”
“I can make sure the files aren’t seen by anyone without clearance.”
If there was an equivalent to a mental eye roll, Zeke and I did it in tandem. “Pardon us if we don’t have the confidence you do in your resources,” I said. It made me wonder how much Rich was actually covering up for Lily—heck, for the rest of us—by playing down our abilities.
“Do you even know half the stuff your agents do in your name? On your orders?”
“I try and have faith in my—”
That was all I heard him say. It was all I could hear over the sudden and brutal mental scream that tore through my mind. It was the backlash from the trap I’d put in Abigail’s head. Someone had just tried to forcibly get inside her mind. Leaping over a dumpling cart, I sprinted out of the restaurant.
35
I had the cruiser running before either Zeke or I had even reached the pavement. Without speaking, I dove into the driver’s seat and he slipped in beside me.
“Sirens?” Zeke asked.
“Screw it!”
Turning on the ignition without the key or touching the steering wheel, I sped away from the restaurant parking lot. In the rear-view mirror, I caught a glimpse of Jenny and the minister coming out of the gilded front doors. She stared after me, but without being able to speak to her mentally, I couldn’t give her an idea of where we were going. Stupid Voids. Why did they have to make everything more difficult?
Calling her from the cruiser radio as I slipped into traffic, I allowed myself a moment to take a deep breath. “I got an SOS from a friend.”
“Will you be alright?”
It would have been better to lie because who knew what I was going to be in for when I got there. But some part of me suspected what it would be. Only one group of people would blatantly attempt to invade the mind of a child. The bad men. “Who knows? I’m about to run headlong into the agents your Jon has so much faith in.”
“What’s the address?” I debated whether to give it to her. But then thought about what the minister had said. Maybe it was time to test his conviction. I filled her in and hung up.
Thanks to the curfews, traffic was more of a nightmare than usual in Kew Gardens as everyone tried to cram all of their business into the daylight hours. “Hold on,” I said to Zeke. “This could be slightly dangerous.”
“Slightly?” He raised a brow. “You just went through three red lights.”
And we went through two more before I had enough wherewithal to tap into the traffic light network to ensure we had green lights the rest of the way. The guy in the Mercedes in front of us kept tapping his brakes. I ground my teeth. The next time he did it, I forced apart the two cars tailgating each other in the right lane and slipped through. Once in the overtaking lane, the Mercedes stepped on his gas to try and close the gap and edge me out of overtaking him.
“Is he being serious?” I snapped.
“Don’t blow his engine,” Zeke said. “It’s not worth it. He’s just a moron.”
He would have clipped the back of the cruiser if I hadn’t taken control of the car. Maybe I should put the siren on. Unlike the Psi-Ops, Rich didn’t like the idea of Hyper announcing ourselves wherever we went. So our cruisers were unmarked unless you really knew where you were looking.
I saw it the moment he caught the sticker on the bumper. Nothing ostentatious, just a Psi symbol inside a laurel-leaf circle. Suddenly, the gap between our cars opened up. I thought so. Not such a tough guy now.
My irritation gave way to trepidation. The shi
eld I’d erected in my mind to keep Abigail’s mental anguish from overwhelming me was starting to degrade. Flashes of her thoughts bombarded me. Over and over again a single fear reverberated in my mind: the bad men are here!
If overkill had a picture next to it in the dictionary, it would be the sight we came upon when we reached the care facility’s parking lot. Not one but three Psi-Ops marked sedans and a black van which I saw had a disability harness in it.
“How the hell did they know to bring the van?” Zeke asked as we shot out of the car and up the driveway. It was a rhetorical question. They hadn’t come simply for her blood. They’d come to take her away with them.
As soon as we pushed open the front doors, shouting drifted out of the lobby, drowned out almost entirely by desperate screaming. I’d know that banshee wail anywhere. At least eight agents stood guard around the perimeter of the square room. Their black suits intermixed with the crisp white of the doctors’ coats and the nurses’ blue uniforms. Georgie was chest to chest with one of the agents.
“I don’t care if you’ve got a golden ticket to a magical fairy land,” she yelled at him. “You’re not taking this child out of here without consent from her guardian.”
I didn’t hear what his response was because an agent beside the door barred our entrance with his tree-trunk arm.
“This building is currently under investigation by the Psi-Special Operations Unit,” he said. “No unauthorised entrants.”
Several choice words built up on my tongue but Zeke was faster. “We’re Hyper Division,” he said, holding up his badge. “The child you’re attempting to take is under our care while her guardian is away.”
“The child has knocked one of our agents unconscious,” Agent Flynn said. He strode through the lobby like a black wraith coming to claim his prize. “She’s a danger to herself and to the rest of the patients in here.”
He was about to get a lesson in the true meaning of danger. The cacophony in my mind suddenly stilled. It was then that I looked up and saw Abigail in the arms of a female agent. She had one arm out, grasping for air, trying to get to me. Or begging me to get to her.
Uncaring whether they tried to stop me, I attempted to sidestep both the agent at the door and Flynn. I came up against two barrel chests. The hairs on the back of my neck rose in shivering hackles as static electricity hummed in my veins.
“Get out of my way.” Was that my voice? The anger that laced my words sent a mental shiver through the vital link that caught even Zeke off guard.
“You have three seconds to leave these premises before we arrest you.” His eyes tracked the length of my arms to where my fists were bunched so hard I was in danger of puncturing my own skin. It would be oh so satisfying to hit him; I was already imagining him crumpling to the cold, tile floor. Instead, the agent beside Flynn suddenly went rigid.
“Sir!” the agent said, standing to attention. When Flynn caught sight of what his colleague saw behind my shoulder, he too saluted.
Figuring that the minister had just arrived, I took the opportunity to race around the agents with Zeke right behind me.
Seeing that I was coming to her aid, Abigail reverted to her old tricks with a vengeance. Faster than you would have thought a disabled child could react, she dipped her head and tried to take a chunk out of the female agent’s shoulder.
Holy shit! Zeke thought.
The agent screamed and yanked Abigail off. With a rough tug, the agent detached Abigail and held her aloft. It was easy enough to grab her from the agent. In my arms, Abigail’s courage resurfaced. She tried to take a swing at the agent but her balance was off and she ended up slugging me in the chin on the rebound.
In my mind, her anger was crying out for revenge. It shimmered as a silver sea with a black undercurrent of fear.
Shh, I said in her mind. It’s going to be okay. When she tried to relax and curled her chubby fingers around a bunch of my shirt, I spotted the fresh graze running along her forearm.
Did they already try to take your blood?
She buried her head in my shoulder in response. That was it. Someone was going to die.
The female agent glared at us while she massaged her left shoulder. The top button of her eggshell-blue shirt was hanging by a thread.
“…ongoing suspicion….” I heard Flynn explaining to Jon when I finally diverted my attention back to them.
“That’s all well and good,” Jon said, “but it doesn’t mean we can suspend the duty of law. By rights, she must have a guardian present.”
“Under these circumstances—”
The minister held up his hand, palm towards Flynn. “I don’t care what the circumstances are. She’s a child. One with a disability no less.”
“But, sir, by the time –”
Flynn could argue black and blue but it wasn’t going to get him anywhere. The minister’s jaw was set in a hard line that I didn’t think possible in such a pleasant face. “I want these people out of here now. And Agent Flynn, I’ll be speaking to the Commissioner about these practices.”
If possible, the agents slunk out of there faster than ice melts on a brutal summer’s day. Not before Flynn cast me a sidelong glare that I returned with equal vehemence. The minister followed them out after a quick conversation with Jenny.
Georgie tried to take Abigail from me. “No way,” I said.
“She’s had quite a scare today. I’ll take her back to her room and she can have a rest.”
I glanced at the big wooden doors with the sliding bolt lock. That was pretty much all of the defence Abigail had in this place. That and a pair of ancient Academy officers turned private security guards for something to do in their retirement. Once I’d heard them having a riveting conversation about what type of bran cereal kept them most regular.
“I’m signing her out to my care for the time being.” Zeke choked beside me. I felt from the link that it wasn’t because he thought it was a bad idea but that we were less than equipped to take care of a disabled child.
Georgie blinked. She took in the three of us, Zeke, Abby, and me. We weren’t exactly your typical nuclear family unit. As usual, I didn’t get any forewarning that Jenny was near me until she rested a hand on my shoulder.
“I don’t know if that’s a great idea, love. They won’t come back again.”
“I’m not taking any chances.” I mentally asked Zeke to call back to Hyper and give Rich the heads up that we were bringing Abigail home with us. He scoffed at my apology, knowing it was going to be an interesting conversation.
Georgie retreated back to the main desk. The glow of the computer lit up her face as she scrolled through what I imagined was Lily’s discharge instructions. Beside her, the receptionist smiled at me.
I couldn’t bring myself to do anything but nod. They had a stilted conversation, but in the end, Abigail was here voluntarily and Ryan had authorised me to make decisions for her while he was away. I only hoped I wouldn’t regret it later.
We dropped Jenny off at her office. By the time we arrived back at Hyper, a very disgruntled Rich was standing just inside the gilded gates, arms crossed over his chest, foot tapping ominously against the pavement.
36
I settled Abigail into my room before heading back down to the dining room with my game face on. The strategy was to be super contrite but hold my ground. That all flew out the window when Rich opened his mouth.
“I’m not going to say anything besides this. How do you think she goes to the toilet?”
“Ahh…”
“Exactly.”
“I couldn’t just leave her there.”
“Couldn’t you? The minister gave them an order. There’s no way they’re stepping back in there until Ryan gets back. If they’re allowed in at all after this stunt.”
“Speaking of,” Oz interjected. “What did they think they were doing barging into a care facility with that many agents to pick up one little girl?”
My sentiments exactly.
B
ianca’s top lip curled. “Something dodgy is going on. It probably doesn’t hurt to keep her here until we know what’s happening.”
I knew there was a reason I loved her!
“I wonder what her powers could do with the nanobots in Willow’s body,” Lily mused.
“Don’t start,” I said. “I’ve had enough of a traumatic day and it isn’t even dinner time.”
“Fine,” Rich said. “But her presence is not to interfere with anything. It’s your responsibility to look after her.”
“Ummm…what about school and patrolling?”
“You should have thought of that before you decided to take matters into your own hands.”
I looked to the others for aid but they were all conveniently preoccupied staring at the walls or the ceiling. Bastards.
“Willow!” Abigail screamed. It said a lot that we all heard her clearly despite being down a flight of stairs and behind two closed doors. “I’m hungry!”
Oh dear Lord. What had I gotten myself into?
Armed with a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of orange juice, I got permission to take the cordless phone into my bedroom. Fresh from her nap, Abigail had dragged herself into a sitting position. While waiting for me, she busied herself rearranging the pillows on my bed. Most were now strewn around the room.
“Rule number one,” I said. “Leave my stuff alone.”
“I’m busting.” She wriggled from side to side. This just wasn’t going to end well. After a very awkward and gross trip to the bathroom, I let her sit on the reading ledge to eat her sandwich while I tried to call her brother.
His phone rang out. Perfect.
Hoping he had call identification, I flopped down on the bed to contemplate what I’d gotten myself into and what my next move ought to be. That lasted about three minutes.
“I’m bored,” Abigail said. She started tapping on the side of her glass. “It’s art time. I’m supposed to be painting.”
“You’re supposed to be doing a lot of things, kiddo. But I wouldn’t bet on any of that for a while.”
