INVISIBLE PRISON (INVISIBLE RECRUITS)

by Mary Buckham

  “You first,” I snarled, the hackles on my neck rising.

  She shrugged and stepped inside, her footfalls as stealthy on the parquet floors inside as on the dirt outside.

  Stopping at a nearby panel which was making strangled beep sounds increasing in volume, and obscured by the shadows, she punched in a series of numbers which cut the noise off.

  Only then did I start breathing.

  Who was she that she knew her way into the Manor House and where were we going? And how did she know the alarm’s key code?

  My shoulders were tensing and my stomach knotting. Enough to make me nauseated.

  “This way,” she whispered, still keeping her voice low. I didn’t blame her. I felt like I was creeping into a church or a prison, someplace I didn’t belong and didn’t want to be.

  “What are we—”

  She cut me off by raising her hand.

  So I followed, remembering my dad’s lecture about just because my brothers jumped off a nearby bridge didn’t mean I should follow their lead, even if they did live to crow about their exploits.

  I’d had enough. It’d been a horrible day, my hand screamed pain, and I knew I was walking toward more trouble, not away from it.

  We’d padded down one hallway when Vaughn paused at a crossway and held up her hand to stop. She glanced in both directions before heading to the right.

  “Just a minute,” I snarled, keeping my voice as low as temper permitted. “I’m not going another step until you tell me where we’re going.”

  But it wasn’t Vaughn who answered me. It was Stone.

  Busted.

  CHAPTER 15

  Glaring at Vaughn wasn’t accomplishing much as I straightened my shoulders and notched my chin high, stalling for time. Enough time to explain what in the world we were doing crawling through the main house after midnight.

  But before I could make a plausible excuse, if there was one, Stone opened the door behind him and stood to the side, saying. “You’re late.”

  For what? I glanced at Vaughn but she’d already slipped into her princess to peon mode as she glided past Stone.

  Currents within currents.

  So I sucked in a deep breath and followed her. I’d like to think it was because I was brave and was covering her back, but mostly I wanted to know what the hell was going on.

  Two steps into the room and I slammed to a halt. Not because it was the fanciest room I’d ever been in, one of those places with woodwork and museum kind of furniture that screamed wealth and refinement, but because Ling Mai sat behind an intricate inlaid wood desk, her hands calmly folded before her, looking as if it were nine in the morning instead of the middle of the night.

  She nodded to two brocade chairs strategically angled in front of the desk.

  Vaughn had already slipped into one as I stood there with my mouth gaping.

  Ling Mai expected us? Why?

  A quick glance over my shoulder showed Stone closing the door and striding to a corner of the room where he crossed his arms in front of him. Man, he had the mad, bad, and dangerous look down pat. But he wasn’t revealing much beyond that.

  When in Rome . . .

  I followed Vaughn’s lead and snagged the other chair, actually glad to sit because I wasn’t too steady on my feet. The pain in my hand seemed to spike with my confusion and worry, throbbing and now racing through my system. I hoped I wasn’t going to hurl on Ling Mai’s exotic woven carpet.

  “I’m glad you could join us, Ms. Noziak,” Ling Mai said, her voice as cultured as I remembered. “We’re in need of your help.”

  My stomach dropped. Last time she had sought my help I had ended up exchanging prison for this place, which was proving even more lethal. So what did she expect from me now? Could she be a soul stealer? Nah, they didn’t ask for permission.

  I held my tongue, waiting for the trap before I rushed head-on into saying anything.

  “You’re the one who was able to identify that someone is using black magic,” Vaughn said, obviously acting as interpreter for cryptic speak.

  “Yeah.” I nodded, wanting to point out that anyone with any experience of magic should have been able to do the same. It was obvious I wasn’t the only practicing witch in the group. Maybe the only known one but not the only one.

  “We’re trying to determine who’s behind the magic,” Ling Mai said, her voice shadow quiet.

  “You mean you don’t know?” I blurted out, glancing between her and Stone. “You have a group full of others and nonhumans and you don’t have any way to monitor their abilities?”

  A sudden tension crackled between the four of us and I caught Ling Mai cast a quick eyebrow wag at Stone.

  Stone was the one who stepped into the yawning void. “It’s more complicated than that.”

  “No shit, Sherlock.” I slammed to my feet thinking of Bitsi and of the dying light in Rolf’s eyes. “You brought two shifters in without securing the environment. I bet you didn’t even tell them they would be sparring with anything other than humans.”

  The rigid snapping of Stone’s shoulders told me I’d zeroed in on the truth.

  “Ms. Noziak.” Ling Mai’s tone could slice granite. “Sit down.”

  I did as she said, not because she ordered me but because I was trembling. What kind of messed-up agency was this that was willing to throw away trainers as well as recruits because they didn’t have a clue how other species interacted?

  Once I’d settled into my chair, still shaking my head, Ling Mai continued, “The shifters who volunteered to train you were aware of the risks.”

  “Not all of the risks, obviously,” I grumbled. Rolf could have been one of my brothers who volunteered to do what was right for the sake of a larger cause and died because of a stupid mistake. That made me even sicker to my stomach than I’d been.

  Vaughn reached over and laid a hand on my arm. “Let them explain,” she said.

  Yeah, she was a good leader out on the training floor and yeah, I’d gotten to know and like her. But the princess and I were going to have a bit of a chat once we left this office.

  “Fine,” I said, then clamped my mouth shut. Let everyone else waltz around the unnecessary deaths. These three hadn’t lost their lives.

  “In spite of what you think you know, there are and have been procedures in place to protect participants and staff from one another,” Ling Mai said, though I could hear the weariness beneath her words this time. “But identifying and controlling magic is one of the hardest issues we’re facing. As you know firsthand, identifying a Were or a shifter or even many of the fae, can be a straight forward matter for those trained to know what to look for.”

  She lowered her head but kept her gaze zeroed in on me as if waiting for agreement. But I wasn’t giving it. Sure, I could sense a shifter and a Were, in part because I’d grown up around them my whole life, but fae were harder for me to identify because there could be so many different kinds of them.

  Damned if I were going to admit that, or acknowledge what a challenge Ling Mai had with so many nonhuman species around.

  Instead I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Go on,” my tone only marginally less caustic.

  “Based on our research and background checks, you were the only recruit identified as possessing magical abilities in any quantity significant enough to pose the risk of harm to others.”

  Great, now I was the threat?

  My look must have said what I was thinking as Stone jumped in. “Your ankle bracelet is more than a monitoring device. It’s tuned to you specifically, so if you decided to use magic, especially black magic against another, we could shut you down in a heartbeat.”

  I narrowed my gaze on him as the nearest target. “So why didn’t you? This afternoon? I was using blood magic then.”

  “Because I was monitoring the situation from here,” Ling Mai said. “And it was clear you were countering other magic as well as attempting to save the lives of your fellow recruits.”

  I le
aned forward. “So why didn’t you shut all of us down?” I asked, wondering to what lengths this woman was willing to go to create her agency. How many lives she was willing to sacrifice until she figured out the nuances of training, and containing, non-humans. “If you’d activated all of our monitoring devices that would have stopped whoever was spell casting.”

  “If Ling Mai had immobilized everyone, and the shifters continued to change, all of you would have been at risk,” Stone said.

  He had a point. But that didn’t mean I liked it.

  I followed the logic of Ling Mai’s words. If I were the only identified witch, no one else’s ankle monitor would have been programmed to stop magic use. So who was using magic and how?

  I hoped from Ling Mai’s safe distance she might have noticed more than Kelly as I asked, “So did you see anyone casting?”

  “Not overtly,” came another of Ling Mai’s cryptic responses. She played so close to the vest I’d hate to come up against her in poker. Or any game with stakes, but wasn’t that what I was doing already? All of us with lives on the line were playing with the ultimate stakes.

  “What about Mandy Reyes?” I hated that I was throwing a fellow recruit under the bus, but if she had anything to do with this mess, I’d not only throw her I’d drive the damned bus myself.

  Another one of those sharp looks were exchanged between Ling Mai and Stone.

  It was Ling Mai who answered. “She wasn’t responsible.”

  “How do you know?” All three pairs of eyes focused in on me. “For sure I mean? If you don’t have a clue who’s using black magic how can you be sure?”

  Ling Mai paused, as if debating with herself. “You’ll have to trust us on this one.”

  “Sorry, not good enough for me.” I stood again, using the chair behind my knees to support me. “It’s our lives at risk out there.” I glanced at Vaughn because she was one of the recruits, before I jerked my thumb to the world behind the closed door. “You let a killer in amongst us and want me to trust you. Give me one good reason why I should help you find this person when you’re not doing anything more than twiddling your thumbs and guessing?”

  I glanced between Ling Mai and Stone but it was Vaughn who answered me. “They . . . we need your help because whoever is causing problems here has a specific goal in mind.”

  “What?” I asked, feeling my blood pumping through me.

  “Not what, who,” Stone said, stepping forward. “The goal is you. You’re the target, Alex.”

  CHAPTER 16

  I swore I could hear myself swallow in the sudden tense quietness. Without realizing I was doing it, I sank back in my chair, my voice a whole lot more restrained than it had been as I asked, “How do you know I’m the target?”

  Ling Mai pulled open the top drawer of her desk, not making a sound until she reached in and rustled a sheet of paper. After she pulled it out she unfurled it and slid it across the pristine surface of the desk.

  “This is why.”

  I leaned forward, afraid to touch that paper as if it could scorch me. But I forced myself to claim it with two fingers, pulling it toward me so I could read it easier.

  It looked innocent enough. A few typed words—less than a full sentence altogether.

  Today. Shifter training. Remove Noziak. Now.

  The spit in my throat dried up, but I was pleased that I could scoot the paper back toward Ling Mai and lean against my chair, acting as if I read death threats daily.

  “Where’d you get this?” I asked, my voice only wobbling a little.

  “Intercepted a call,” Stone said.

  “And you have no idea who was on the phone? Here? I find that hard to believe.”

  “It was a fluke that we were able to get as much as we did.” He curled then released his fists against his side. “Everyone who enters this compound has their phones and any other electronic devices confiscated when they arrive. Our tech people were doing a routine surveillance and caught the conversation minutes before we assembled in the gym.”

  “By the time they knew there was a threat we were already sparring,” Vaughn added, halting my next question, why were we not warned, in its tracks.

  “So how did someone get a phone?” I asked, keeping my gaze on Stone.

  He shrugged, his face darkening. “Bribed someone. Snuck one through the perimeter. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

  I wasn’t really listening to his answer. After only two months in prison I knew only too well how easy it was to acquire what you wanted, regardless of the precautions. Everything had a price.

  Ling Mai leaned forward, voicing the thought already tumbling around my head. “Who wants you dead?”

  I wasn’t often at a loss for words, but the question gob smacked me. “Don’t know.”

  “Make any enemies where you were?” Stone asked, stepping away from the wall.

  I appreciated that he didn’t rat where I’d spent the last two months to Vaughn, even though it was obvious she was more of an insider than an outsider here.

  “Big Mad Martha,” I mumbled, then shook my head. “But she hated everyone, so I doubt it was personal. Besides, she was only a big fish in a very small pond. I doubt she could plan something beyond the boundaries of PWCC.”

  “Sounds like a delightful woman,” Vaughn muttered, averting her gaze and not asking what, or where, PWCC was.

  “Anyone else?” Stone pushed.

  I spread my hands wide, which looked really stupid with one mummified with bandages. “There are less than four hundred people in all of Mud Lake,” I said, referring to my hometown. “A few hundred more in the outlying area. I don’t know them all but enough of them to not suspect a single one.”

  “There’s got to be someone?” Stone said, his tone a threat.

  Vaughn raised one hand. “Wait a minute, Alex has a good point.”

  “What, that there’s no one I know in Mud Lake who wants to cross the country to take me out?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m thinking maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way.”

  “Meaning?” Stone snapped, taking his frustration out on her, though I wasn’t sure why.

  “This is a very organized attempt to kill Alex,” she said, looking mostly at Ling Mai and myself and giving her shoulder to Stone. I knew I liked her.

  She continued, “Someone has gone to a lot of trouble and invested a lot of money in this operation.”

  “Which means what?” I asked. “Most of the folks I know barely break even year after year. Not a lot of people with money to burn in Mud Lake.”

  Vaughn offered me a weak smile. “Not looking necessarily at individual wealth,” she said, then looked at Stone as if daring him to take a potshot at her. “Think connections. Organization. The backing of a larger group as opposed to one person.”

  “The Mafia?” I asked, swimming in the dark. I could see my brothers snorting over the idea of an Idaho Mafia.

  “Who else is extremely organized, runs in packs, and has the financial wherewithal of a group to fund an operation like this?”

  Ling Mai and I spoke at the same time. “Weres.”

  “Or vamps,” Stone added, realizing exactly what Vaughn was saying.

  “No.” I shook my head. “No, I killed a Were. Haven’t had any run-ins with vampires.” That I knew about, not that vamps easily fit in with human society, and living in an isolated small Idaho community meant I didn’t cross paths with many of them. And few went to prison. They didn’t do well in a closed society that required you to be awake in the daylight. So if they committed a crime, they made damned sure they weren’t caught.

  “So we’re looking for a Were,” Stone repeated, nodding at Ling Mai.

  “Except.” I raised my hand to halt the easy solution. “The Were I killed was a rogue. He wasn’t affiliated with any pack.”

  “You know this for sure?” Stone demanded, like a child deprived of promised candy.

  “My dad did some checking. He wanted to mak
e sure we didn’t owe a blood payment to a Were clan.”

  Vaughn gave me a raised eyebrow glance that silently interrogated.

  I answered her, “My dad is a shaman shifter; he understands the protocol associated with many of the non-human species as well as the spirit world.”

  “Must be handy,” Vaughn smiled, one that went all the way to her eyes to let me know it was sincere. “I wish my dad knew those kinds of things.”

  It was Stone who broke the bonding moment. “So the Were was rogue, which meant no one watching his back. We’re back to square one.”

  “Not quite.” I mulled over Vaughn’s comment, tasting the truth of her words. “My dad checked pack allegiance but he didn’t check for other connections.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Stone pushed.

  I glanced at Ling Mai who’d kept her own counsel through the conversation. It was a wise woman who knew when to hold her tongue.

  Vaughn leaned forward in her chair, waiting for my words.

  What if I was wrong? We could spend time chasing down the wrong rabbit hole while someone had me in her sights.

  But if I was right, no one else had to die needlessly.

  My gaze tap-danced across the room, making sure we were all focused here before I took a deep breath. “Dad looked at clan allegiance, but he didn’t look at friends.” I paused before adding, “Or family.”

  Vaughn whistled, catching on the fastest. “Of course. I don’t know enough about Weres, but aren’t their families the same as their packs?”

  “Not always,” Stone mused aloud, forgetting for a minute to snap at Vaughn. “Many packs avoid family dynamics by selecting pack members from outside blood bonds.”

  “But those bonds still exist,” I said, thinking of my brothers. I’d do anything for them, including dying. Shifters were different than Weres, but one thing they had in common, once aligned, either by blood or allegiance, the bond held.

  I looked at Ling Mai. “So how do we find out who inside here might be connected to my dead Were?”