Vortex: A Tempest Novel

by Julie Cross

  “I bet you get a little wild if you’re drunk,” I teased.

  “I bet you won’t find out,” she said with a grin. “Unless…”

  I nearly dropped my glass bottle onto the floor. “Unless what?”

  “So, where did you say you lived?”

  Then I did drop the glass bottle, but caught it right after it slipped through my fingers. “Far … very far from here, and it’s a total dump … I mean, I’d never take a girl there, and besides, you don’t even know me.”

  The cocky smile had dropped and she was staring at me with a more curious expression. “Sure … I guess you’re right.”

  It didn’t bother me in the least that she’d want to follow me home, but it bothered me that I might not be the only one. Last time, it took me until our fourth date to talk 009 Holly into seeing my apartment, and my dad was home and all we did was walk around for about twenty minutes.

  Where was this coming from? I’d practically violated her earlier, and now she wanted to get me alone?

  “Or you could just … give me your number?” she asked.

  No, not going to happen.

  An awkward silence fell and I wanted to fill it with something meaningful even if it didn’t make any sense to her. What I didn’t want was for my fellow teammates to hear me. I picked up a pen from behind the counter and jotted something down on a napkin.

  What's past is prologue.

  Her eyes dropped to the napkin and she read what I wrote, then glanced up at me with a confused expression. “Not a phone number … Shakespeare?”

  “Yeah, it was in my fortune cookie at lunch today. Figured I should share the wisdom.”

  Her eyes froze on mine for several seconds and then she said, “Let’s hear another one.”

  I pulled my chair closer to her and wrote right on the napkin still sitting in front of her.

  Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

  She laughed quietly. “Is that why you won’t give me your number?”

  “Something like that.” I leaned my chin on her shoulder for a second as I scribbled the next line. “This one’s my favorite.”

  He that dies, pays all debts.

  “Something to look forward to when I max out my credit cards.” She reached for another napkin and jotted down a sentence. “Let’s see if you know this one.”

  Then tell the wind and fire where to stop, but don’t tell me.

  “Dickens?” It was moments like this when I’d be happy for time to move twice as slow. “Let me guess … that was the inspiration for your body art.”

  Her mouth opened, but it took a second for any words to tumble out. “Not exactly, but sort of … How did you know?”

  I had a clear view of the tattoo on her shoulder blade. I touched it lightly with one finger. “Lucky guess … or maybe you’re just extremely predictable.”

  I watched her expression as I wrote down a few more words.

  Would you ever kiss a stranger?

  “I’m not predict—” she started to say, and then changed courses when she read the napkin. “Would you?” she asked.

  “No,” I said, before touching my lips to the corner of her mouth. She didn’t stiffen this time, but I felt her stop breathing. I started to move over toward her lips, but two very loud, excited men sat on Holly’s other side and we both jumped apart.

  “That was pretty smooth.” Now she was blushing, but laughing at the same time. “Can I ask you something?”

  “You can try…”

  She leaned in, closing most of the gap between us. “Okay … so … have you noticed that Senator Healy has been watching us?”

  I sat up straighter, catching the slight formality that had returned to her voice. “No … not really,” I lied. “Have you?”

  “Totally,” she whispered, sounding even more scripted than before. “He’s walked behind you, like, five times.”

  “Four,” I answered immediately from the weird part of my brain that stored all this shit. My defenses were up and agent mode had just switched back on. “Not that I’m counting.”

  “I have a confession to make,” she said, dropping her eyes to her hands. “We sort of have this … bet going.”

  My eyebrows lifted up. “You and the senator? How do you know him?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t really know him. I just met him tonight … I mean, he’s the one who awards the scholarship that I got for college, but it’s coincidental that we’re both here.”

  Not exactly coincidental. And I didn’t remember her mentioning anything about Senator Healy and her scholarship before … or maybe I never actually asked where it came from?

  “Okay … so what was the bet?” I asked.

  Holly reached out and placed her hands on my face, holding tight. “You can’t move your head … and you have to close your eyes.”

  “Um … this is weird.” I shut my eyes anyway, just to see where this was going.

  “What color eyes do I have?” she asked.

  “Blue … light blue.”

  “All right … what about my date?”

  “Brown. Why—”

  “The Russian ambassador?”

  Hazel … with a little bit of blue on the inside. “I don’t know.”

  I opened my eyes and saw that her expression was more serious. She dropped her hands to her lap and forced a smile. “That’s good enough. Thanks.”

  I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to catch up. “Seriously? That’s not much of a bet.”

  She grinned. “Actually, there were two tasks, and I went for the most difficult one first.”

  “And what was that?”

  She turned her eyes away. “To get you to kiss me.”

  I felt my mouth drop open a little and my stomach twisted, like someone had just punched me in the gut. I forced myself to stay cool. “I hope you won something amazing.”

  “Wicked.” She reached in her purse and removed what looked like two tickets. “That’s what I won. Front-row seats.”

  I turned my shoulders forward and picked at the label on the empty bottle in front of me. I shouldn’t have been disappointed. This was my decision. Making out with Stewart or having a few drinks and grinding with a girl at a party was one thing, but the second you leap off a roof to save someone … you’ve just exposed your greatest weakness, and I couldn’t let that happen again. Not ever. Because eventually there would be a time when I didn’t jump soon enough.

  I turned my head to the left and caught Senator Healy’s eye. He didn’t look angry anymore, just gave me a tiny nod of approval. But for what? Maybe he was trying to prove a point? That I could still watch, even when I thought I was slacking?

  I needed to be watching now, figuring out why no one knew where my dad or Chief Marshall were. Figuring out why I needed to befriend Stewart and what the hell was so important about Kendrick’s focus.

  “Another drink?” the bartender asked both of us.

  I turned to him first. “Nothing for me.” Then I took a deep breath before facing Holly. “Have fun at Wicked. I’ve heard it’s a great show.”

  The first sign of guilt crossed her face as I stood up. She grabbed my arm and held it. “It was fun … really.”

  “Winning is always fun, right?” I stepped closer and smiled before touching my index finger under her chin and rubbing the skin and sighing with relief when I felt the familiar scar. I dropped my hands and walked away. She wasn’t exactly my Holly, but I didn’t think she could be a clone, either—but I didn’t really know how that worked.

  I only got a few steps away when Kendrick came over and swept me toward the dance floor. “That little bitch. I could totally kick her ass right now.”

  The irony of that statement was almost funny. “Don’t sweat it … seriously.”

  “Just a warning, I’m not such a good dance partner,” she said, putting an arm around my waist.

  I pulled Kendrick close enough so I didn’t have to look her in the eye. Other than fight
ing in self-defense practice, I had never been this close to Kendrick, and I wondered if this was more evidence that the two of us were becoming friends. “Any updates?”

  She shook her head. “Just keep your eyes open.”

  That was exactly what I did as we swayed in the middle of the dance floor to a song I’d never heard before. I reverted to lip-reading because it was the most distracting, but after a little while Brian’s voice emerged though my earpiece. I realized, within seconds, that Stewart was standing right next to them with another tray of food.

  “You wanna stay a little longer or … leave early?” Brian asked Holly, and the suggestive tone to his voice made my stomach turn over and over.

  She laughed and then said, “Leave early … totally.”

  Now I had to look. I couldn’t help it. And the first thing I noticed was Brian’s hands resting on her ass and his tongue being shoved down her throat. I groaned to myself, but not so loud that I missed him mumble, “Don’t worry, I came prepared.”

  I spun Kendrick around to face the other way and closed my eyes, absorbing the weight of his words. It was like four fists punching me all at once. He’s sleeping with her? He stole my moment. One of my favorite Holly memories.

  And now I’d have to figure out how to keep from killing him.

  “I think you’re gonna dig a hole through my hand,” Kendrick whispered. I loosened my fingers and then wiped my sweaty palm on my pants. “Sorry.”

  I watched Holly retreat with Brian and felt a mixture of relief and emptiness. At least I could focus the rest of the night. Drunkenly focus.

  Just as I was about to scan the room again, I felt the vibration of my cell phone.

  “Is this right?” Kendrick mumbled, now looking at her own vibrating phone. “Freeman wants all of us?”

  I shook my head. “That’s what it says … but why?”

  “Let’s not make a scene leaving,” Kendrick whispered.

  I nodded my silent agreement and we waited an agonizing thirty seconds for the song to end before drifting casually out of the spotlight and over to a dark corner. My heart raced with anticipation. Something big had to be happening if they were pulling all of us away right in the middle of a mission.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  JUNE 16, 2009, 10:20 P.M.

  We sped up our pace once we were in the lobby and far away from the front desk. “Any idea how they want us to get underground?”

  I felt someone brush up behind me and saw that it was Stewart. “Yep. And we don’t even have to go outside.”

  Kendrick and I followed her to an elevator at the end of a long hallway. As the doors opened, Mason was right next to us, slipping in first.

  “How do you do that, man?” I asked him. “I never see you.”

  He smiled at me for a second and then nodded to Kendrick as the doors shut. “All right, Doctor, you and I have to rewire this thing.”

  I was sure my face reflected the confusion I felt, because Stewart explained. “You need a key to go to the basement level … where the laundry room is.”

  “Right … isn’t there a staircase?” I asked.

  “God, Junior, when are you going to grow a brain?” she said, tossing her jacket onto the floor. “The stairs also require a key, except there’s no electrical system we can fool, like with the elevator.”

  Mason and Kendrick were ignoring us. They already had the cover off the control panel and were now sifting through wires.

  “So steal a key from a maid. Seriously, it’s not rocket science,” I snapped.

  “This is less risky. No outsiders involved,” Mason mumbled, with his eyes still focused on the wires.

  “I don’t buy that at all. Admit you just like taking shit apart,” I said.

  Even though my stomach was fluttering with nerves, I had to smile at the image of Kendrick, in her long pink dress and heels, ripping through wires like the freakin’ bomb squad. The confidence was the complete polar opposite of Kendrick trying to stitch a dead body. I wondered what Michael would think if he saw her like this. In her element.

  “Hook the red to the orange,” she told Mason.

  “Got it,” he said, and then the elevator jolted downward.

  “Nice work, Dr. Kendrick,” I said.

  She smiled at me and then removed her shoes and held them in one hand. As the elevator doors opened, Stewart and I both drew our pistols at the exact same time. If there was one thing I could contribute to this team, it was a damn good shot … although I’d never done any target-shooting while completely wasted. My aim might be a little different.

  We dodged several bins of white towels to get to a small opening in the floor. Well … actually it was a manhole concealed by a small brown rug. I climbed the ladder first, aiming my gun below, just in case. The second I landed on the ground, Agent Parker and Agent Freeman walked right past me.

  “Hey! What’s going on?” I asked. “Why are we crawling through the sewers to get to the classrooms?”

  Freeman glanced up and down the tunnels as more of us flooded through. “I got a page from Healy who said to round all of you up. He must know something, if we’re aborting the mission like this.”

  I squinted, trying to see down the semidark tunnel. “Who are those two … up ahead?”

  Freeman said the name of two of the agents who had also just completed their training in France.

  Kendrick, Stewart, and Mason had all touched ground by this point and were listening carefully to Freeman. I couldn’t ignore the uneasy feeling that came over me. Something wasn’t right. I had just been practically standing next to Healy … only minutes before getting called.

  “Why would he call everyone at once? Don’t some of us have posts to guard … or something?” I asked Freeman.

  “I’m not sure, Jackson. This wasn’t part of the original plan, but missions change … you know that.” He glanced down the tunnel and then back at Parker. “Why don’t we run ahead and check?”

  “Sure,” Parker said, then he called over his shoulder, “See you guys in a few minutes.”

  Kendrick walked next to me, still holding her shoes in one hand. “What’s on your mind?”

  “I don’t know,” I said in low voice. “Something about this seems bad … really bad. And Healy told me to—”

  I froze in my spot, searching my memory for the assignment that Healy had given me.

  Tell me what the Chinese ambassador and his friend are discussing.

  I had been distracted by my spotlight dance with Holly, but my mind didn’t fail me. After playing the moment in my head over and over, I came up with one complete sentence straight from the mouth of the Chinese ambassador.

  “The children will be occupied.” Children … as in baby agents … which was the majority of us … And Freeman was a baby leader … usually that job fell to Dad or Marshall.

  “I think we’re being set up,” I said immediately. My heart was racing, and even Stewart’s attitude wouldn’t shake me from this new discovery.

  “What are you talking about?” Stewart said with a groan.

  “Something’s going to happen while all of us are being dragged away from the scene … Think about it,” I insisted.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Stewart said. “We do what we’re told.”

  “You heard Freeman, this wasn’t part of the plan,” Kendrick said.

  I glanced at Kendrick and then back at Stewart. “I’m going back.”

  “Fucking idiot,” Stewart mumbled under her breath.

  “I’m going with you,” Kendrick said.

  I nodded, then we both turned around.

  “Jackson, wait!” Mason said before trotting up beside me. “I’m coming, too.”

  “Mason! What the hell are you doing?” Stewart shouted at him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, not turning around to face her.

  “Whatever,” she grumbled. “Fucking traitor.”

  Kendrick started to climb the ladder again and I looked over my shoulder at M
ason, his eyes on Stewart’s retreating form. “You can go with her. It’s okay, man,” I told him.

  He stared at me and shook his head. “Healy asked me to search the basement for explosives an hour ago … me, as the expert in Futuristic Technology…”

  I swallowed hard and forced down the very bad feeling. “Yeah, that is a little suspicious.”

  * * *

  After ten minutes of combing the basement for clues of any kind of attack, we were all starting to feel a little stupid for going against orders.

  All three of us turned a corner and walked down a narrow corridor, the hum of the utility room coming from the right side. Mason suddenly skidded to a stop and Kendrick and I smacked into him.

  “Mason?” Kendrick said.

  He put his hand on the doorknob to the utility room and then pressed his ear to it. “Something’s different…”

  He opened the door and Kendrick and I both looked over his shoulder.

  “What the hell is that?” Kendrick said.

  I followed her eyes to the floor in front of the water heater. “Oh, damn…”

  The giant glass case lying on the floor with clear tubes of liquid running through it was identical to the explosive we had encountered in Heidelberg. The one Emily disabled.

  “Is this … oh, God, it is, isn’t it?” Mason muttered.

  “If you mean the weird-ass explosive Stewart found in Germany, then yes, it looks the same,” I said, and then covered my tracks when he shot a glance at me. “Based on her description anyway. I read the report a few times.”

  Blood rushed to my face. My heart pounded at twice the pace of the tiny clock ticking against the front of the bomb. Kendrick and Mason dropped down to their knees, eyeing the foreign and most likely futuristic object from every angle. This was what they did best. It wasn’t my territory, and yet most of Emily’s steps of disabling it had stayed etched in my mind.

  “There’s fourteen minutes left on this timer,” Kendrick said.

  “This has to be a test,” Mason said. “If it were a real threat, why the hell would the EOTs leave a clock counting down the minutes for us? To be polite?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, slowly trying to put the logic together. He had a point, and yet I’d seen this thing before and the EOTs were behind it.