“I’ll stand,” Dilsner answered when Ix turned to him. The techno-Mage had spent most of the four days they’d been locked in hiding behind a laptop, ignoring the rest of the team.
Bourque had passed on the game and sat in the corner, knitting a cardigan. He’d seen it before, but it still struck him as an incongruous hobby for the harsh and burly heavy weapons specialist.
“And dealer takes one,” Ix said aloud in his growling voice. He tossed another king down next to his three, then quietly flipped his hole card to show a queen and his bust. Even after four days locked in a small number of rooms, David knew almost nothing about the demon. He was an enigma, even beyond being a being that was once an enemy.
“Can I get into the game?” a quiet voice said from behind David, and the distracted team members looked up to find Michael standing in the doorway. David realized the Commander looked tired, but followed the rest of the team in standing up and clamoring for news, the blackjack game forgotten.
“Quiet down, people,” Michael said firmly, and the team slowly quieted. The werewolf walked into the room and took a chair, gesturing for the others to do the same. “First question first: we have been cleared to leave. The Ministry received a specific request from the Committee of Thirteen, and Mr. Wellington has conceded the point. We’ll be leaving whenever you’re ready.”
Michael looked utterly exhausted. David was shocked that it had taken an appeal all the way up to the Committee to free them, but it did at least explain the werewolf Commander’s state.
“Questions you haven’t asked,” the Commander continued, “one: the Mounties have officially thanked us and ONSET for our assistance. Their assessment reports and my own are already at the Campus, as are glowing endorsements on all of your files. You did well, people—very well.” Michael paused to allow them to settle down, and then went on. “Two: our inactive reserve time has ended, so you are all officially on your one-week-cycle leave as soon as we leave this hospital.
“Pack your things,” he ordered. As the team began to move away, he gestured at David. “David? Can I have a word?”
David felt a twinge of concern but stepped over to his Commander. “Yes, sir?”
“Come with me,” Michael ordered, and led the way off of the hallway and down a floor, into a military gymnasium attached to the hospital. The wooden floor had been cleared of any equipment, and RCMPP officers guarded the doors.
“We didn’t have time when this mess first wrapped to a conclusion to discuss your fight with Dresden,” the werewolf told David as he continued to lead the way into the center of the gym floor with its painted lines.
“It was still sinking in then, sir,” David admitted. “I’m still not sure what to make of it.”
“I am,” Michael said quietly. “You fully powered up—to the level of ability we knew you to possess from the beginning. Have you been able to repeat any of it since?”
David thought for a long moment as the pair stood there, alone in the empty gym. He remembered the sensation of running at that “full power” now, the feeling of fire running through his veins, but...
“I haven’t tried,” he admitted, “but I haven’t felt like that since then.”
“We need to test it, David,” Michael told him. “Do you remember what it felt like?” At David’s nod, he continued. “Focus on that thought. Try and draw that feeling into you, and then try to hit me.”
Given the empty and guarded state of the gym, Michael’s apparent idea of testing wasn’t really a surprise to David, and he nodded silently. He stepped away from Michael and focused inward.
He focused on that memory of heat and flame, and tried to bring it forth. He closed his eyes, drawing on the meditations he’d been taught to control his Sight and tried to bring the fire up from inside him.
Then he felt…something. A spark flared inside him, and he moved at Michael. Before he was even halfway there, he knew the spark had failed, and Michael’s block seemed blurringly fast.
The next thing David knew, he was on the floor where his Commander’s block had thrown him.
“Apparently not,” he said breathlessly as he slowly clambered back to his feet. Even given his past experience with Michael, that strike had been a humiliating failure. “I had something but nowhere near enough.”
“These things take time and practice,” Michael told him. “At least you know what to try for now. You have somewhere to begin.”
“What if I can never gain conscious control?” David asked. He now had to admit he had the strength they attributed to him, which terrified him, but it wouldn’t help him much if he couldn’t control it.
“You will,” his Commander said firmly. “Now we know you can do it, it’s just a question of practice. You said you had something just now—more time and you’ll have more.”
David nodded, conceding the point. It also seemed like he triggered under stress, he realized. Most likely, anytime he needed his powers, he’d have them. Not that that wasn’t terrifying enough all on its own.
“What now?” he asked.
“Don’t go back to Campus,” Michael told him. “Go on holiday…somewhere. Hell, anywhere. Denver’s nice and near the Campus for when you have to head back. You need a break, son.”
The younger man looked away from his Commander but nodded. “Denver, huh?” he said, considering.
A break sounded very good.
Chapter 25
On hitting the ground in Denver, the suited and neatly dressed crowds in Denver International Airport drove home to the rumpled and worn David that he’d been wearing the same clothes since changing out of his combat gear four days before.
His taxi delivered him to a chain hotel with faux marble pillars holding up a stone roof over the drop-off area. He paid the man and walked into the small lobby. Dark red carpet ran over the floor, and dark beige walls made the tall potted plant stand out plainly.
He booked a room for the next several nights and headed past the desk to the main-floor rooms. To his right, a sign noted that hotel guests received a discount at the nearby nightclub and bar just across the street. David swallowed immediate temptation and continued to his room.
He glanced around the room, noting the large white bed, the dark wooden desk in the corner, the television, and the tiny—invisible to those without Empowered senses—security camera in the far corner of the roof. The only really unusual feature of the room, which he’d paid extra for, was the Jacuzzi tub in one corner.
Ignoring the camera, David entered the white-tiled bathroom and stripped off for a much-needed shower. The hotel provided the normal assortment of tiny bottles, which was more than enough for his needs.
Later, when finally feeling clean, he opened the duffel bag that was all the personal gear he’d brought with him to Montreal. His combat gear had gone back via Pendragon, leaving him with the sparse selection of clothes in the bag. He had one spare shirt, already worn once but mostly clean, and the suit he had worn to fly there.
David looked at the sparse pile of clothing dissatisfiedly and decided to go shopping.
#
Several hours later, David returned to his hotel room with several bags full of clothes, and wearing a new coat that the saleswoman had assured him looked “amazing” on him.
It was a shoulder-to-ankle duster of heavy navy blue wool. Six small but heavy silver buttons closed the front of the duster, and he was surprised at the freedom of movement he had while wearing the full-length coat.
Under it, he wore a brand-new pair of black jeans and a dark scarlet sweater, proof against the late autumn mountain chill. He looked, he realized with a wry grin as he looked in the mirror, like the stubbled and long-coated heroes of bad action movies.
A newly purchased razor, however, made short work of the stubble. He’d discovered while shopping that he’d not only been paid by ONSET since starting work, the bank had already processed the payment for his old house. The number of digits on his bank balance was surprising to the sm
all-town cop that still lurked somewhere deep inside him.
Cleanly shaven, showered and wearing new clothes, David finally felt fully human for the first time in a couple of days. His watch and the dark sky outside told him it was evening, almost nine o’clock.
He left the hotel into the fading remnants of a Colorado sunset. Rather than catching a taxi anywhere, he walked over to the grassy verge between the hotel and the road. The smells of cooking wafted on the air as he looked over at the strip mall of restaurants on the opposite side of the road. Cars and pedestrians passed both ways, the noise traveling far through the streetlight-broken darkness.
Turning away from the restaurants, his path took him north to the club his hotel had given him a discount ticket for. After the week he’d had, David wanted a drink.
#
Majestic had left a tracker program, hooked in to several hotel and airline databases, watching for David White’s name. He was her only link to the secret she was nibbling around the edge of, and her curiosity was driving her crazy.
She’d been out for the day, and when she returned home in the evening, her computer was flashing multiple hits on that program. One glance at the locations, and her heart leapt into her throat. Denver.
Here. She knew the hotel he was booked at. She’d used to work there. Now she could find a way to reach White. Majestic was a superb hacker and had learned a thousand tricks of the trade. By now, she’d coded up a program that she was almost certain could get her through that security node’s ungodly defenses—but only from the other side.
With that thought, she began to start loading the ISP of the hotel in question. She’d cracked it before, so she was sure she could be into their systems by midnight at the latest.
She needed her program loaded into the conspiracy’s own computers, and David White was the only person she knew with access to them.
#
David walked up to the entrance of the medium-sized club to find the doors wide open with no line. It was only nine o’clock, and the bar was probably only barely open. A shining neon sign proclaimed that the Black Iron Club was open.
The bouncer at the front door eyed David up and down, obviously noting both his age and his muscular frame. David gave the man a raised eyebrow, and he then grunted, “Five bucks admission.”
David gave the man the money and entered the club. It was less well lit than he was used to, and most of the lights seemed to be black lights. White-painted Celtic knotwork covered all of the walls at about head height. A scattering of dancers, all younger than him but still older than the late teens he’d expected, held down the lowered dance pit as David skirted it to get to the bar.
He took a seat at the bar and ordered a shot of whiskey. With the lack of customers, he got it almost immediately and shot it back. His second was ordered on the rocks, and he turned to watch the rest of the club as he drank it.
Over the course of the next two hours, the club slowly filled up. A good portion of the crowd appeared heavily into black and silver. The reminder of the vampires from Charlesville resulted in two more quick shots, in addition to a regular metronome of a whiskey on the rocks every fifteen minutes.
David knew the bartender was watching him, as he’d had a lot to drink, and didn’t care. His hotel was five minutes’ walk away, and the whiskey was good. He could afford to drink.
“Can you still stand after that?” a soft feminine voice asked after he’d taken the two quick shots.
David looked up at the speaker to find a tall dark-skinned woman looking at him. She was both taller and slimmer than him, with soft brown eyes gazing down at where he sat on the stool. Her black hair, only slightly darker than her skin, was braided around her head like a crown, silver hairpins holding it up. His eyes continued to track down, to her high breasts, mostly exposed by an elegant silver-ribbed red-and-black corset over a floor-length flowing black skirt.
Wordlessly and calmly, he rose smoothly to his feet and pulled the stool next to him out from the bar. With his Sight activating without a thought, he sensed her amusement and willingness as he gently took her by her bare arm and guided her to the stool. Her skirt flared out as she sat, revealing stiletto-heeled boots that continued higher up her legs than he could see.
He then retook his seat and smiled at the…lady. She was definitely not a girl, with the slight lines on her face suggesting her to be nearly his own age. While her clothes were in the same vein as the clothes worn by the younger women in the bar, hers took the ideal to a much higher degree of sophistication.
“May I buy you a drink?” he asked after finishing his current whiskey.
“That you may,” she conceded with a wink. “My name is Jasmine, by the way,” she offered.
“David,” he replied, his brain somewhat fuzzy. “What would you like?” he asked. A part of his brain suggested that he probably shouldn’t be buying a girl a drink in a bar, but the rest replied that he’d made no commitment to Angela other than to phone her.
“That whiskey looks fine,” she replied, and he ordered two more whiskeys on the rocks.
They spoke of inconsequential things for a few minutes as they drank. His Sight meant that he knew, without a doubt, what she was after, but there was no reason to push the fact.
When the whiskeys were finally done, Jasmine rose to her feet and offered him her hand. “Shall we dance?”
Smoothly, belying the copious amounts of alcohol he’d consumed, David rose to his feet to join her. She took him out onto the dance floor as a slower song started and the crowd paired off. Jasmine closed into his arms and pressed her breasts against him. Parts of his brain shut off as blood rushed to a lower portion of his body, and her smirk suggested that she knew exactly what she’d just done to him.
They danced wordlessly, and David’s hands slid down her back to rest naturally on the curves of her ass. She made no complaint, only expanding her smirk and pressing slightly harder against him.
When the song finally came to an end, Jasmine rested her head on his shoulder and flicked his ear with her tongue.
“You’re in the hotel next door?” she questioned.
He nodded, not trusting himself to answer verbally.
“Let’s go.”
Angela never crossed his mind.
#
They made their way back to his hotel room hand in hand like giddy teenagers. The darker, soberer part of David’s mind had no illusions about the likely duration of this encounter, but the protesting voice was buried under whiskey, and the rest of him didn’t care.
When they entered his hotel room and he turned on the light, Jasmine gave a cry of delight at the sight of the Jacuzzi. She turned and leapt on David, pressing her chest against his and her lips against his as they kissed for the first time.
Her tongue quested across his lips for a moment, and he returned the favor as he closed and locked the door behind them. They parted finally, breathless, and eyed each other, momentarily shy.
“Can we use the Jacuzzi?” the woman asked, her lips slightly parted.
David glanced at the time, and then realized he didn’t care if it was nearly midnight. He wanted this woman, and that meant anything was kosher.
“Sure,” he replied. He crossed to the white tub, discarding the navy blue duster beside the door as he did, and turned on the water. He took several moments to ensure the temperature of the water entering the tub was just right, and then turned around to look back at Jasmine.
She had shed the corset and long skirt while his back was turned, and stood before him a goddess in knee-high boots. He drank in the sight of her for a long moment before crossing to her.
They kissed passionately, fervently as they undressed, until David pulled back and gestured for her to precede him into the Jacuzzi.
#
It was just after midnight when Majestic finally broke into not merely the hotel’s computers but also their security system. Cross-referencing the guest list with the security system, she loaded the camera
to White’s room.
For a long moment, the hacker simply sat there, watching what she’d found. In the scene shown, the police officer she was looking for was not alone. A black woman was also in the room, sharing a bubbling Jacuzzi for a purpose other than getting clean.
There was no sound over the camera, and Majestic was grateful for that. She suspected that the rooms next to White’s were getting quite the earful.
Emotions warred in the hacker’s mind Part of her sparked with lust at the sight of the couple’s lovemaking, and another part with inexplicable anger at the woman in the hotel room.
She shook her head against the emotions and began to check for the information she needed. A smile crossed the hacker’s face as she found the emergency alert feed to the room’s computer. She could override that to turn the TV on and carry her signal.
More checks brought up the phone line, and pre-set up a program to make sure the hotel’s phones carried no record of her call. With her having an unknown amount of time to have everything ready for the morning, Majestic threw herself thoroughly into her preparations and planning.
Anything, after all, to distract herself from the realization that, after months of obsessively pursuing this man for entirely intellectual reasons, it had been a long time since anyone bent her over anything like that.
Chapter 26
Michael walked into Charles’s lair to the unexpected sight of it having been converted into a mass computing center. Half a dozen skinny young men and a trio of young women had set up tables and laptops scattered around the large and comfortable den under the Campus.
All of the laptops were connected to power bars and ran blue Ethernet cables over to the massive computing setup Charles used to surf the internet. The dragon and Morgen Dilsner were by the dragon’s “desk”, talking quietly.
ONSET: To Serve and Protect Page 22
