Shades of Memory

by Diana Pharaoh Francis

  “Chances are good. Your null cuts the odds of failing quite a lot and then the Seedy Seven”—her mouth curved on the name—“they don’t want anybody else taking over. At least a few of them wouldn’t mind taking the throne themselves. The first step in that plan would be to take the compound, so no matter what, helping take the compound works in their favor.”

  I nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

  “What are you going to do when they turn on you?”

  “Convince them it’s in their best interests not to,” I said.

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out.”

  “Comforting,” Arnow said again, a little less acidly than the first time.

  “One thing at a time.”

  “Try not to get a bullet in your head before you sort it out.”

  “Working on it.”

  I shivered. The air around us was still, but even so, the temperature hung around zero, and the warmth from the Jeep’s engine was quickly fading.

  “How long do you think he’ll keep this up?” Arnow pulled the hood of her coat up over the black knit cap on her head.

  Since there was no polite answer to that, I held my tongue like a grown-up. It hurt me deeply, but I did it.

  All of a sudden, my ears popped and the air twisted. In the blink of an eye, the bottom edge of the tornado lifted up, drawing up into a spinning disk far above. Bits of things pelted us. Branches cracked and evergreen needles filled the air like darts. Arnow and I pulled the edges of our hoods together to protect our faces. It wasn’t necessary. A solid wall of nothing drew around us. The flying debris crashed against it and dropped to the ground.

  “Neat trick,” Arnow said.

  “Told you,” I said, pride for Price resonating through my entire body.

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Sure I did. You just can’t remember. You should see someone about that. Inexplicable memory loss. Maybe you’ve got Alzheimer’s.”

  “I swear I’m going to start carrying duct tape.”

  I watched the wind above us. It was a giant pulsing saucer whirling in place. As I watched, it condensed, growing denser and darker as the debris bunched tighter.

  It had shrunk to maybe thirty or forty feet in diameter when all of a sudden it took off like a flying saucer. It streaked away across the distance. I stood up on the hood, watching as it cut a swathe through the tops of trees and then hit the side of a mountain. There was a kind of explosion as trees flattened in an imitation of a crop circle.

  Abruptly the shell of protection surrounding Arnow and me dissolved. I looked down at her. “I guess that’s it.”

  I jumped down to the ground, and she slid off the hood to stand beside me. Price continued to stare at the destruction for a long moment, then he turned around and strode purposefully back to us. That neutral badass mask had slid back down over his face. His eyes burned with laser intensity. He’d found control, not calm. Again, pride for him flared inside my chest.

  He came to a halt in front of us. “Let’s go.”

  I nodded. “Won’t take us long to get back to the city.”

  “We aren’t going back,” he said.

  “We aren’t?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “I’ve got to admit, that’s not the response I expected,” Arnow said. She eyed the destruction he’d wrought.

  “Get in the car. We’re wasting time.”

  Price climbed into the driver’s seat, and we got in.

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked as he started the Jeep and put it in gear.

  “Hundred percent,” he said as he pulled out on the road, checking his mirrors as he did.

  “Could you explain it to me? I’m confused.”

  He blew out a tense breath. “Vernon and Tyrell both have their hooks in Gregg. Going back is only going to reveal that we know what they’ve done. The best thing for Gregg, for all of us, is to do exactly what we’re doing. Establish a power base to protect ourselves from whatever they come up with next. We do it fast enough, we can pull Gregg and his organization in before Vernon and Tyrell can do anything worse to him.”

  He made sense. But it had to be gutting him to know his brother was being manipulated and used while he was standing by doing nothing. If it were me, I’d be crawling up walls. It was the right choice, but that didn’t make it easier.

  “It’s the smartest thing to do,” Arnow said, and there was a gentle note to her voice.

  Was that sympathy? From the ice queen? The apocalypse must be happening.

  “Glad you approve,” Price said sardonically.

  “So we have to assume whatever Touray knows, Vernon and Tyrell know, too,” I said, thinking out loud. “Which means they know we are going after Savannah’s organization. What are they likely to do about it?”

  “Laugh their asses off,” Arnow said. “They probably think we’re puny minnows and they are sharks and they won’t do a damned thing beyond what they were already planning to do.”

  “I agree,” Price said.

  I did, too. “Why do you think Diamond City is so important to them all of a sudden?” I wondered.

  “Good question,” Arnow said. “I’d like to know that, too.”

  “Let’s worry about the hostages,” Price said. “That’s our job right now.”

  I could tell he didn’t want to talk about Touray anymore. I took his hand in mind, holding it tightly. I couldn’t fix things, but at least we were in this together.

  Chapter 23

  Gregg

  GREGG POURED HIMSELF coffee and dove into his breakfast. A stack of papers sat on the table beside him. On the other side were two tablets. The one Tyrell had given him, and his own. He shoved Tyrell’s out of the way and started scanning reports.

  He was performing triage. During his absence, his three senior lieutenants had stepped up to run things. He needed to finish getting himself up to speed on current activities. Taking over Savannah’s organization not only meant getting control of her territories and businesses, but he had to absorb them quickly. It would lessen the chance of rebellion from those who might want to resist if he took the uncertainty out of the merger by stabilizing their day-to-day routine.

  He was also curious to find out if Dimitriou, Castillo, and Kinsey had started laying foundations to stage a coup. He wouldn’t blame them. Without knowing if he’d ever come back, they’d have been smart to make plans. All three had welcomed him back with open arms, which either meant any thoughts of taking over depended on him not returning, or they weren’t ready to make a move yet. Taking over Savannah’s organization would give them more power and more rewards, which would soothe them, at least for a while. Plus they deserved it for keeping things running in his absence.

  At seven, he gathered his things and retreated to his office. Randall and Bruno followed him. He glared at them.

  “I’m in my own house. You can back off.”

  “No, sir,” Randall said. “We protect you wherever you go, at home and abroad.”

  “What do you think is going to happen to me here?”

  “Knife between the ribs,” suggested Bruno.

  “Is that something you think could happen or something you hope for?”

  They didn’t respond. Annoyed with their hovering, Gregg travelled to his office. The doors were locked, the room sealed against eavesdropping or other spying.

  He sat at his desk and reached for his phone. He tapped in a number and waited. After two rings, the other end picked up. A woman spoke, her voice smoothly professional.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “I want to put a contract out on Alexander Dimitriou, Liv Castillo, and Mark Kinsey.”

 
“Of course. Specifics?”

  “Should be public and should look intentional. Two hundred grand apiece, completed by Tuesday. Ten grand bonus for every day earlier than that. I’ll fax pictures.”

  “Very good. Do you have specific hitters in mind?”

  “Open contract.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You can handle demonstration of performance.” Not that smart people crossed assassins by claiming kills that they didn’t make. It happened occasionally, but those people didn’t survive long.

  “As you wish. We will need a deposit of full payment funds plus our service fee before we make any assignments.”

  “You’ll have it within the hour.”

  “Very good. Always a pleasure.”

  The Operator hung up. Gregg fired up his computer and made the transfer, including the maximum bonus money. The unused portion would be refunded or banked against future jobs.

  He sat back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling, considering, then went back to his computer. A couple of minutes later, he reached for the phone again. The Operator picked up after two rings.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “I have another job. Five hundred thousand. Forty-eight-hour clock. Open contract, you handle proof of performance.”

  “Target’s name?”

  “Cassandra Dix.”

  A slight pause on the other end. Gregg smiled. It wasn’t easy to take the Operator off guard.

  “We will need a deposit of full payment funds plus our service fee before we make any assignments,” she said, recovering.

  “I’ve already sent it.”

  He hung up. It was really too bad to lose such a valuable tool, but Cass was too dangerous to tolerate. He didn’t need her now, anyway. Not with Vernon on his side.

  Dismissing all thought of Cass, he went back to work.

  Chapter 24

  Riley

  “YOU SHOULD SLEEP,” Price told me after glancing over his shoulder at the slumbering Arnow.

  “I don’t want to miss it if the trace lines change direction.” Not that I could sleep anyhow. I couldn’t stop thinking about Touray, about the invasion going on back at Savannah’s, and about what Vernon might be up to. How did I fit into it?

  “I need to talk to my mom.”

  “Now?”

  “You know, if I followed one of the hostage’s trace through the spirit world, I could find out where they are and come back. Wrapping myself in null magic at the diner seems to have fixed me. I can totally handle it.”

  He started shaking his head before I got halfway through. “Too dangerous. You don’t know what you’d be walking into. If you got caught, we wouldn’t be able to find you or them.”

  He spoke like he wouldn’t go nuts if I went off by myself into danger. Impressive. I’m not sure I’d manage any level of calmness at the prospect of him in the same situation.

  “You’ve thought about this.” Of course he had. He had a cop brain.

  “I knew it would occur to you sooner or later, especially now that you’re back to having functional magic. I was planning to make you take me with you if I couldn’t reason with you.”

  I was willing to put it on the back burner. For now. “Consider me reasonable.”

  “I don’t know if that’s scientifically possible.”

  “Probably not. But I agree. It would be stupid to try it without a compelling need.”

  “Hallelujah. She isn’t as dumb as she acts,” came a sleepy voice from the back seat.

  Arnow sat up and looked out the windows. “Where are we?”

  “Thirty miles east of Glenwood Springs,” said Price.

  “Denver is looking more likely,” she said. “Makes sense, since that’s where we were investigating the murders.”

  I turned to look at her. The side of her face had a red mark where she’d propped it against the seat. Strands of ash-blond hair had pulled loose from her ponytail and haloed around her face. She wasn’t wearing makeup. She almost looked like a real girl.

  “What?” she demanded when I kept looking at her.

  “Almost didn’t recognize you for a minute. Is that dried drool on your chin?”

  She rubbed the spot before she could stop herself, then glared at me. “Mind your own business.”

  “Turns out you are my business. Seems like God really does have a sense of humor. Something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Why didn’t you know about the hostages? What were you to Savannah, anyway? Because you sure know a lot of things for someone low on the totem pole, and you know too little for someone higher up.”

  She looked out the window a long moment, considering, then turned back to me. “Like I told you, Savannah bought me when I was around seven. She had a stable of nearly three dozen girls, ranging from young ones like me, all the way to eighteen. She had a private school on the compound that we attended, as well as an extracurricular school, I guess you’d call it. If you failed to carry high scores in either, you were sent away. We never heard from those girls again.

  “We were raised in luxury. On top of the usual school subjects, we were taught to be genteel, to walk and speak correctly, to dance, to appreciate wine and exotic foods, and to do all the things a debutante might be called upon to do. When we turned fourteen, we began lessons on how to be a woman, how to please lovers of both sexes, how to seduce and charm. We were also taught how to remember information exactly.

  “Savannah would have parties where we served food and drinks and mingled, and if a guest selected us, we would entertain them privately. Once we reached eighteen, we were sent to college at an Ivy League school. Like before, good grades were mandatory. After college, we returned to act as hostesses at the weekly parties where we would seduce targets and wriggle information out of them through whatever means necessary. Some of us were assigned to begin long-term affairs with particular targets.”

  Hearing about her life made me want to throw up. “Savannah was an evil bitch.”

  “Yes, she was,” Arnow agreed, looking out the window again. “I was part of her after-college stable for couple of years. Then one day she decided I needed to join the FBI and be her eyes inside. She made sure I got accepted into Quantico and that’s when I began my double life.”

  She paused. “I liked being an agent. It was hard to juggle Savannah’s demands, but I managed to keep my connection to her quiet in the Bureau. If I hadn’t, she’d have yanked me back to party duty.”

  The bitter expression on her face showed just how much she’d hated that idea.

  “Why didn’t you leave? Quit working for her?”

  She gave a harsh laugh. “I liked breathing.”

  “She was a real prize, wasn’t she?” I said, then a memory triggered. “That’s one of the places you knew Touray from, wasn’t it? Her parties. You entertained him.” My gaze zeroed in on Price. “Did you go to them?”

  His lip curled. “A couple of times. I didn’t like them and I wasn’t interested in the . . . amenities.” He glanced in his rearview. “I didn’t know the . . . staff . . . was unwilling.”

  “Not everyone was. Savannah paid well and provided luxurious living with a monstrous allowance. For a lot of us, that made it worth it.”

  “But you and Touray . . .”

  Thinking about Touray and Arnow in bed was surreal. I couldn’t imagine it.

  “He was better than most,” Arnow said with a shrug, but her voice betrayed anger and resentment. “He would give me information for Savannah and I’d give him what she wanted him to know. It was a game.”

  “I’d rather play Russian roulette,” I muttered.

  “At least he didn’t get off on rape fantasies,” Arnow said, but I’m not sure she knew she’d said it aloud. She’d turned inward, caught up in memories I
was sure would give me nightmares.

  “Someone should have put that bitch down years ago,” Price growled with another look in the rearview.

  “Amen to that,” I said.

  Arnow blinked and turned her focus back to me. “If I could have, I would have. Ending her is one good deed you can chalk up to your father.”

  I snorted. “It was just a snake killing a scorpion. He’s no better.”

  “Maybe,” Arnow said, sounding doubtful. “Savannah was pure evil, on par with the devil himself.”

  “My father might just be the devil.”

  “Then let’s make sure the two of them spend eternity in hell together.”

  We exchanged a look of perfect accord. Both of us had suffered betrayal, torture, and threats of death from one of our parents. I had a feeling that little Arnow had looked to Savannah like a mother only to find out she was Lady Macbeth.

  She seemed to read my mind, folding her arms and giving me a disparaging look. “Don’t think this makes us BFFs.”

  “Only in my nightmares,” I said. “The really bad ones.”

  A COUPLE HOURS later we pulled into the suburbs of Denver. We’d stopped to gas up once and fuel ourselves with energy drinks, chocolate, and jerky. Well, I did. Arnow eyed my bounty disdainfully and grabbed coffee, trail mix, and a little bottle of orange juice. Price followed my example with the energy drink, but went for a sandwich out of the fridge.

  “You know that’s probably crawling with salmonella,” I said as we stood in line.

  “I’ll risk it.”

  “Suit yourself, but I am so going to tell you I told you so when you’re puking on the side of the road.”

  He bent and kissed me, probably to shut me up. He didn’t lift his head until the pimple-faced cashier cleared his throat.

  “You want to buy those?”

  Price handed him all our items, including Arnow’s. “Pump five, too.”

  “You know that you just sent me the wrong message, don’t you? I mean, if you wanted me to stop. Kissing me is more reward than deterrent.”