“How do I know you’re not still using me?”
“I am using you,” Matt said.
“Great.”
“When you triggered my spells, you left me without any way of defending myself. I was lucky to escape. I found Barden’s car and got into the trunk, figuring that the two of you would head someplace. I could take that time to regroup and gather up more of my supplies.”
“If you’ve been cut off from your organization, how do you expect to gather more supplies?”
“There are ways.”
“You do realize there’s no need for you to try to be mysterious.”
“I’m not trying to be mysterious.”
“That’s right, you’re just trying to be a pain in the ass. Regardless, you can share a little bit more.”
“There is division within the organization. Is that what you want me to say?”
“I’m not sure what I want you to say. I just want a little bit of honesty out of you.”
“John shouldn’t have gone after the elders. Doing so would only ever have unsettled things. There is a delicate balance within the magical world, and it’s one that each side likes to think they navigate on their own, but they don’t, not really.”
I shot him a look. “You want me to believe your organization has some stabilizing influence?”
“You can believe it or not, but part of what we have always done is try to ensure a balance. Whether it’s a balance that involves the various factions of mages, or the vampires, or the shifters, that has always been our purpose.”
I recalled what Barden had said about them. “What about the other side of the Veil?”
Matt frowned as he studied me. “What about it?”
“Do you have any influence there?”
“We’ve talked about the other side, Jen.”
“Right. We have, and I know it’s dangerous. I know there are creatures of incredible power on the other side.”
Matt chuckled. “Anyone who is aware of magic should know that.”
“I’m sorry I don’t know a lot about the Veil. I’ve only known about magic a short time.”
“There’s no shame in acknowledging ignorance. If you try to act when you’re ignorant, pretending you’re not, people can get hurt. It’s no different in the magical world from how it is in the medical world.”
I shot him a look. “I’m aware of that.”
“I’m just trying to remind you. I don’t want you to feel bad that there are things you don’t know.”
“It’s not as if you have been the most forthcoming about things, Matt. You could help me so I’m not quite so in the dark.”
“I could, but sometimes knowing puts you in danger.”
“Now you want me to remain ignorant. Which is it?”
Matt sighed. “There are seven different realms on the other side of the Veil. Each realm is occupied by one primary race, but they aren’t the only one.”
“Like the fae?” Matt nodded. “Demons?”
“One of the most dangerous realms.”
“What of the others?”
“As we’ve said before, everything you have ever heard is real. It just happens to exist on the other side of the Veil.”
“And that separation is what keeps us safe?”
“It keeps us separate. Safety is a relative term. For the most part, the creatures on the other side are not interested in joining us on this side of the Veil. When they try, they lose something of themselves, become weaker.”
“The demons try to cross.”
“They are unique,” Matt said, shaking his head. “And a little bit misunderstood—at least by the mages. They try to cross, but they do so in order to find more power. They have been somewhat marginalized on their side of the Veil.”
“You think I should empathize with demons?”
“I’m not suggesting that. All I am suggesting is that they aren’t what you would necessarily believe. Furthermore, I don’t know that the term demon is accurate. Those on the other side actually use a different term for them.”
“What does your organization do?”
“It helps ensure the stability on this side. It also helps to ensure that magic isn’t revealed too openly to the world. We don’t worry about members of the various magical factions here. For the most part, they remain to themselves. The Mage Council doesn’t want any more attention than they already have, and the shifters are perfectly content to remain hidden in their dens.”
“What about the vampires?”
“The vampires are a unique challenge. They have always been that way. They have lived a long time, though to hear them tell of it, their power is among the oldest in the world. While that might be true, that power has always been balanced by others.”
“Let me get this straight. Your organization is some altruistic group that wants nothing more than to ensure the peace and safety of our world.”
“When you say it like that, it doesn’t sound right.”
“It doesn’t. Which is why I’m not sure I can believe what you are telling me.”
“I don’t need you to believe.”
“You do if you want me to trust you, Matt.” I glanced over at him. “If you have been set up, what do you intend?”
“I need to know who did it. Once I do, I can bring that information to a higher level. And then I can clear my name.”
I grunted. “What if there isn’t any clearing of your name?”
“I’m not responsible for this, Dr. Stone.”
“That’s not what I’m getting at. What I’m getting at is: what if your people are all in support of what John Adam was doing?”
Matt stared out the window, saying nothing for a long moment. “If that’s the case, then we have a different issue at hand.”
“Why? What issue is that?”
“The organization has never tried to accumulate power.”
I laughed, and Matt looked over at me. “You haven’t tried to accumulate power? I saw the kind of things you were able to do, Matt. What is that but power?”
“Like I said. We haven’t tried to accumulate it. We have always tried to be prepared, ready for the possibility that we may need to fight in order to ensure the balance and stability on this side of the Veil remains secure, but it has never been anything more than that.”
“So if someone really was trying to steal power from one of the vampire elders…”
“Then we have something far more dangerous afoot.”
16
We had been driving for the better part of half an hour, and there was still no sign of Barden. At this point, I wasn’t sure he was even going to return. It seemed doubtful to me he would, and without Barden returning, I was left with a decision. I either had to trust Matt—something I still wasn’t sure I could—or I had to find a way to get away from him. At this point, I wasn’t sure I could even do that. He was skilled enough that he would likely know what I was trying to do, and if I did attempt to escape from him, I had to wonder if he might not chase me, and force me to do whatever he’d planned.
It had taken me a little while, but I now recognized the highway Barden had transported me to. It was a north-south road, not an interstate, and after taking it for a while, I turned the car around, heading back into the city. While there might be danger to me within the city, I had a sense there was just as much danger to me by staying out of it. Besides, I knew the kind of things that were in the north. I’d been there once before, and I had no interest in visiting the shifter pack.
Unless I should. Could that have been what Barden wanted? There might be some protection they could offer, the kind that even Barden wouldn’t be able to provide, and it was possible he had wanted me to come this way in order to go to them for safety. If anyone could protect me against the organization—and Matt, I had to admit—it might be creatures as powerful as the shifters. My problem would be in finding them.
It was part of the reason I had turned around. Heading back into downtown, the rur
al landscape quickly changed back to more of a suburban and then an urban setting. Once we hit the interstate heading downtown, there wasn’t anything to do but to continue onward.
Without Barden returning, I didn’t have any other choice but to work with Matt. “Any suggestions on where to go that might be safe?”
He was silent, and his eyes were closed, almost as if he were sleeping, but who could sleep at a time like this?
“They likely know all of your typical locations.”
“Because you knew?”
He nodded without opening his eyes. “As I said, I was still reporting back to the organization.”
“So it’s because of you I can’t return home.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t, I’m just saying that they will know about it.”
“Why was Brad targeted and not me?”
“Standard operating procedure.”
“What?”
“They knew you and he were friendly. In order to ensure I was fully drawn out, they needed to remove anyone who might offer you any assistance. Unfortunately, Dr. Roberts fit that profile.”
“Why didn’t they come after me?”
“Their approach to you was different. They thought they could pull you in.”
“Why?”
“Because you uncovered what I was doing, and you were prepared to report me.”
“I think that Brad would’ve done the same. Besides, when you had me trapped in the locker room, he came for me.”
“I wasn’t going to do anything to you, Dr. Stone.”
“You know, looming toward a woman in a confined space like that really isn’t a threat at all.” I shot him a look. “That’s sarcasm, by the way.”
“I’m aware of how it looked at the time, but that wasn’t my intention.”
“So I was less of a target to your people because you didn’t get along with me well, the last time we worked together.”
“Something like that.”
“Something like that, or is it like that?”
“I made certain you wouldn’t be a target.”
“How?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does. And now you’ve brought me into it, and regardless of whether or not I might have been a target at the time, I most certainly am now. I don’t want your people hunting me.”
“They won’t hunt you.”
“That’s fully reassuring.”
“They’ll hunt me.”
I pulled off on the exit that led into the city, and debated where to go. If anyone had been following us, they would know we were heading back in this direction. Then again, if anyone had been following us at this point, I would have expected to get attacked by now. The fact that I hadn’t suggested we might actually be safe. We had time, but how much? How long would we have before Matt’s people came back for us again? I circled around a familiar block, and pulled into the parking garage.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not sure what to make of all of this,” I said.
“You really don’t want to come to the hospital.”
“I really do.”
“Dr. Stone—“
“No. I don’t know if I can trust you, Matt. And if I can, as you say, I would rather have other people around me while I try to figure out what I need to do next. In addition, I also want to see how my friend is doing. You know, the same one you made sure was targeted because of your involvement with the organization.”
“Coming here puts others in danger.”
“You said it yourself. Your organization wants to make sure others don’t know that magic exists. Isn’t that part of your assignment?” He frowned at me before nodding slowly. “And in that case, wouldn’t it be revealing if they exposed the fact that magic did exist by attacking?”
“There are other ways of attacking.”
“I’m quite sure there are, but at the same time, I also know there are enough people here and enough places where I know how to disappear, and that offers more safety than anywhere else I could go.” It was a gamble, but hopefully it was one where I could come, regroup, and figure out a way to reach out to Barden and wait for him to find me again. That is, if something hadn’t happened to him. I couldn’t think like that. I didn’t think anything had happened to him, though the fact that he hadn’t returned did trouble me.
We made our way around the parking garage, and once I found a physician’s spot, I pulled into it, putting the car in park. We were between a Volvo and a Mercedes, so the Lexus wasn’t completely out of place, and it was certainly far nicer than what I usually drove. I hesitated, my hand on the steering wheel, and my heart hammering. The last time I’d been in the parking garage with Matt, I was under attack. While I didn’t think Matt would attack me now, the idea that I was here again, with the same sort of threats, left me more than a little unsettled. It left me scared.
These were the same situations Barden had been working on with me. He had been wanting me to find a way of reaching magic, a way for me to ensure my safety, but the more I was around situations like this, the less I thought I could be safe. And how could I ever be safe when it came to power that was well beyond what I could draw?
“I can see you aren’t certain,” Matt said. He twisted in the seat, looking at me. “I can come up with a few places we might be able to go that would be safe. If you would give me a few moments, I could—“
I shook my head, opened the door, and got out. This was ridiculous, and I didn’t like the idea of putting the hospital in danger, or the patients in danger, but I also knew it wouldn’t be the first time the hospital had been targeted by people with magical abilities.
As I entered the hospital, Matt grabbed for my arm, but I pulled away from him. “If your organization is so focused on ensuring peace, why didn’t they get involved when there was the attack in Minneapolis a few years ago?”
“What makes you think they did not?”
I glanced over at him. We were in the stairwell now. Nothing but concrete all around. This was the place where I would be the most vulnerable, and I was tempted to race up the stairs, get away from Matt, and make my way toward the ICU. “I know the people who were involved, so I know your organization wasn’t involved in it before.”
“We don’t get involved if others are doing what needs doing,” Matt said.
“Really?”
He nodded.
“And who, exactly, decides that?”
“Dr. Stone, there’s a reason we have operated on the fringes all these years. The more people who know about us, who know what we do, the less effective we can be.”
“If you are trying to target one of the Council of Elders, it doesn’t seem as if you are trying to be particularly secretive. It seems to me that is a surefire way of gaining attention.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. It’s the reason all of this troubles me,” Matt said.
I held his gaze for a moment. I didn’t know what to say, but I did share his concern. What would the rest of the magical world do if they knew there was an organization like his that operated? Then again, Barden had known—at least, he had known something. And having known that, what did it change for him?
I knew the answer to that. It had changed his level of preparation. Barden was nothing if not thorough and prepared. By continuing to operate, by continuing to dig, Barden was prepared for the possibility he might need to act against this organization. And if that happened, there was the possibility of an open battle.
I went up the stairs, not waiting to see if Matt would follow. I knew he would. When we reached the main level of the hospital, I pushed open the door and stepped out. I hesitated there for a moment, looking around, and listened to hospital sounds. There was a familiarity to it, a comfort, and I felt almost as if I were in a place of safety. Maybe that was why I had come here.
Looking around inside the hospital, I debated where to go. Now I was here, I didn’t have much of a plan. It was unusual for
me, especially in this place. Most of the time, when I was in the hospital, I knew exactly what I was going to do.
Visit Roberts. With everything that had been taking place, there was a part of me that just wanted to know he was unharmed. If anything had happened to him because of my connection to Matt, I would feel awful. As much of a pain in the ass Brad could be, he was still my friend, and he had always shown me kindness, regardless of whether or not it was his form of kindness.
“Why this way?” Matt asked, jogging behind me.
“Because I’m going to check on Brad. Are you okay with that?”
I heard him do a double take. “I didn’t think the two of you were together.”
“We aren’t. That doesn’t mean I can’t worry about him. He’s here because of me.”
“He’s not here because of you, Dr. Stone. He’s here because of me.”
I glanced back at him, arching a brow. “Is that any better?”
“I suppose not.”
Breathing out in a frustrated sigh, I reached an elevator. I would stay in the more populated areas, rather than veering off and taking the stairs. Until I knew whether I was in any danger from Matt’s people, I didn’t want to take any route that might lead me into danger.
As I was waiting, tapping my foot, I pulled out my phone. I should have done it before. There were five messages. All of them had come from Barden. I started to dial when Matt shook his head.
“What?”
“They will have a way of tracing your call.”
“What?”
He shrugged. “I know it’s the paramilitary,” he said, glancing around, “but that doesn’t mean the techniques are all that different from the rest of the military. For that matter, they are a little more specialized. They will have traced your call. The fact that you have your phone with you—and on—is likely enough for them to have traced it.”
I didn’t like the idea I would lead the paramilitary here, but at the same time, what else was I supposed to do? What if it wasn’t my phone?
Glancing once again at the elevator, I hurried away. Matt trailed after me. “Where are you going?”
“You told me I couldn’t call from my phone.”
Open Fracture Page 17
