Cloak and Daggers
Page 1
Table of Contents
TITLE PAGE
Copyright
Synopsis
Dedication
Also by Katerina Martinez
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Author's Note
About the Author
Contents
TITLE PAGE
Copyright
Synopsis
Dedication
Also by Katerina Martinez
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Author's Note
Also by Katerina Martinez
About the Author
CLOAK AND DAGGERS
An Order of Prometheus Novel
Book Two
By Katerina Martinez
CLOAK AND DAGGERS
An Order of Prometheus Novel
Book Two
Copyright © 2017 by Katerina Martinez & Lee Dignam. All rights reserved. Cover uses images © 2017 Depositphotos.
Published by Supernal Publishing
Cover Art by Lee Dignam
Editing by Stacia Williams
Visit: www.katerinamartinez.com
***
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.
Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read my work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or tell your friends about this serial to help spread the word!
Thank you for supporting my work.
I once lost everything I had; turns out I still have way more I could lose.
I used to be the Faction's top hunter; eleven years tracking down Fallen mages and doing the Faction's dirty work. But the Faction was lying, had been lying all along. They double-crossed me, tried to frame me, and when they couldn't do that, they tried to ruin my reputation and sentence me to death, only they trained me too well. Now I work for the Fallen, otherwise known as the Order of Prometheus, helping mages escape from under the Faction's grip. Problem is, the Faction aren't going to give up on trying to put me down, and to make matters worse, they aren't happy that I took two of their best people with me when I switched sides. Their tactics are going to get deadly before they get sloppy.
We're at war with the Faction, and if we want to win it, we're going to have to go behind enemy lines, work from the shadows, and use every trick we have to minimize the potential bloodshed, on their side, our side, or anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire. I'm ready for this. My training, my experience, everything's come to this. But I have no idea what the Faction is hiding up its sleeve, and the truth I'm going to learn about the world I live in is going to either set me free, or shatter me into a million pieces.
Now isn't the time to back down.
Enjoy the book, and don’t forget to sign up to my mailing list to receive email updates, a set of exclusive short stories set in my Blood and Magick universe, invitations to giveaways, and much more!
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***
For Nia, the best sister anyone could ask for.
***
Also by Lee Dignam & Katerina Martinez
The Order of Prometheus Series
Book 1: Smoke and Shadows
Book 2: Cloak and Daggers
The Blood and Magick Series
Book 1: Magick Reborn
Book 2: Demon’s Kiss
Book 3: Witch’s Wrath
The Half-Lich Series
THE HALF-LICH BOXED SET
Book 1: Dark Siren
Book 2: The Void Weaver
Book 3: Night and Chaos
The Amber Lee Series
Book 1: True Witch
Book 2: Dark Witch
Book 3: Shadow Witch
Book 4: Red Witch
Book 5: Devil’s Witch
The Cursed and Damned Series
Book 1: The Dead Wolves
CHAPTER ONE
Looking out the window of the small coffee shop on Liberty Avenue, you would have thought nothing was wrong. It was dark out, the sky overcast with thick gray clouds that opened up from time to time to release torrents of thin, razor-sharp rain, but the main street was full of people flitting from shop to shop, commuting to and from their places of work, going about their business as if nothing had happened.
But something had happened—something terrible—that had claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people, and it would have claimed mine if I hadn’t been able to outsmart the people behind the destruction of Pinnacle tower. That was the reason I was sitting in the coffee shop tonight, watching, waiting, hunting.
Streaks of lightning sailed inaudibly across the clouded sky, breaking my thoughts in half. Thunder rumbled only seconds behind it. I blinked to recover from the sudden jolt out of my own mind, then took a deep breath and exhaled just as someone placed a cup of coffee on the table in front of me. Looking up, I saw it was a man possibly in his forties, sporting a thick beard, beady, brown eyes, and wearing a red sweater with green trimming on it.
“You look ridiculous,” I said.
“I don’t know,” Jamie, who was wearing a magical disguise, said as he sat down on the chair opposite mine. “I’m digging this sweater.”
“That’s the kind of thing a child would wear in the winter, but this is fall, and you’re a grown man.”
“In my defense, I was told to think of something inconspicuous.”
“So, you decided to look like that weird uncle who always shows up half-drunk at parties?”
Jamie, or at least the bleary eyed, scruffy man Jamie was pretending to be, smiled widely, making his beard shift in… odd… ways. “Everybody ignores that uncle.”
“Yeah, until he smashes a vase or something,” I said.
“Whatever. I don’t like your disguise either.”
“You’re not alone there.” I shifted around in my seat, then scratched the back of my neck. “I hate wearing this. It’s uncomfortable as hell. It’s a magic disguise; why the hell am I itching? It’s as if I’ve got on a cheap, store-bought Halloween costume.”
For my own disguise, I had traded in my long, golden hair for a head of shoulder-length black hair. All of the warmth had gone out of my angular face, replaced by a deathly pallor. I looked
like I hadn’t seen the sun in years, nor had a good night’s sleep in as much time. While I could feel the strength in my body, the one I was wearing looked too thin and twig-like.
“You look like the witch that lives in the house at the end of the lane,” Jamie said. “The house everyone avoids and throws rocks at on a dare.”
“Remind me never to do this again.”
“That’s the price we have to pay for our celebrity,” he said, letting the feather of steam from the coffee warm his nose.
“We aren’t celebrities,” I whispered. We were fugitives, wanted criminals, and there was a difference.
Three weeks ago, I had put out a broadcast on every major network available. My face and voice had been beamed onto every screen, every holographic billboard, and every phone in New Seattle, and I had told the entire city everything. I had told them about the conspiracy to destroy Pinnacle tower, had shed a light on the Faction’s despicable practice of chipping infant mages, and had professed my innocence. I had also spread the Order of Prometheus’ message, their call to arms, in the hopes that those watching would take steps to prove what I was saying, and in doing so verify that I was telling the truth and join our side.
The Faction didn’t immediately respond, not for a day or two. During that time, I thought we had gotten them, thought we had made a dent in their reputation, but then the Chief himself spoke out, and his response was perfect. They came out with the truth in order to protect their lie. The chips were real, but they were also a necessity; a means to protect the non-magical community from mages like me who would seek to use their power to hurt the innocent civilians of New Seattle. If the chips weren’t a closely guarded secret, then anyone could have removed them; a practice which, the Faction assured viewers, would prove fatal for any mage foolish enough to try it.
They kept the building’s destruction pinned on me, claiming I had forged the video evidence I had broadcast along with my spoken message, so I remained public enemy number one. I became the face of evil, the face of the Fallen—boogeymen who use their magic for their own, personal, selfish gains—and I was accused of manipulating facts to suit our agenda. In other words, the Chief shut my message down, and he shut it down hard. Or, at least, he thought he had.
If he had done as good a job as he thought, then Jamie and I wouldn’t have been sitting in that coffee place, watching the street, waiting for the first two Faction defectors to make contact. But they were late. It was five minutes after three in the afternoon, and still no sign of them. Jamie took a sip of his coffee, then turned his attention to the window and scanned the street beyond it.
Spider, I said in my mind, how are we looking?
You’re all clear as far as I can see, he responded, his voice being carried on the back of a telepathic wave being sent from nearly two miles away. No detectable hostiles, and no sign of any trouble.
No sign of our targets either, huh?
Nothing yet. Just sit t—
The phone in my hand buzzed, and a message came through from one of the girls we were waiting for. It was short, concise, and chilling. They had picked up a tail.
“I’ve gotta go,” I said to Jamie, standing up and forgetting my coffee.
“Is everything alright?” he asked.
“They’re being followed.”
Jamie’s face darkened. “Shit,” he said, also standing up. “Plan B?”
“Yes, I’m going in. You hang back and cover me, just in case there’s any drama.”
“I hate this plan.”
“It’s the only one we’ve got, Jamie. Cover me.”
I stepped out of the coffee shop. There was never really a Plan A; neither of us thought this would go smoothly. But we had prepared for one, just as we had prepared a Plan B, and many more, trying to think of every possibility, no matter how pointless it was.
The air outside was cool and crisp, and smelled heavily of the rain that had been falling on and off all day. As I walked from the entrance of the coffee shop, I crossed the street and headed toward the indoor market packed with people moving around in all directions. Some were going into or out of shops, others were standing by the food carts waiting for their hot dogs and fries, others were simply hanging out, sitting at the base of a large black statue of a man on a rearing horse. He had a glowing orb in his hand aimed at the sky and was looking defiantly toward it. This was the statue of Emanuel Tobias Holt, founder of not only New Seattle, but the Faction itself.
I thought it poetic that the Faction’s newest defectors should meet us underneath his likeness, which was why I had chosen this spot.
Moving briskly up the steps leading to the base of the statue, I used the horse’s tail to hoist myself up high enough to get a good view of the market, but it was packed. I knew what the girls—Kim and Daliah—looked like, but I didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of finding them on my own.
Spider, I said in my mind, triggering our psychic link, I need help. Where are they?
I’m trying to find them. Hold on, he said.
Work faster. This disguise is uncomfortable as hell, and I want to go home.
Look, this isn’t my comfortable office at HQ. I’m stuffed in the cockpit of a vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft, it’s hot, I’m sweating, and I’m working with what little power I can to make sure no one finds out I’m the ghost inside the cameras around the market. Give me a minute, okay?
I didn’t think we had a minute. If they were being followed, then it meant the Faction knew these two women were about to do something stupid, like make contact with the Order. If that was the case, then it was highly likely that Faction agents were all over this place. Sure, they didn’t have Spider, but they had other means of keeping their eyes on their targets.
Got them, Spider said, they’re between the jewelers and the shoe store.
A psychic tug pulled my eyes in the direction Spider needed them to go, and sure enough, I caught sight of Kim and Daliah, both walking casually along the market, hand in hand, doing their best to look like lovers on an afternoon stroll down one of New Seattle’s most popular boulevards. They were doing a good job of it, too; Kim had stopped and pointed at one of the pairs of shoes in the display window as she passed it, and the girls looked as if they were genuinely fawning over how beautiful they were.
The man trailing a few feet behind them wasn’t so subtle. His body language was that of a predator looking to close the gap between himself and his prey, using whatever means necessary. He had a hard, lined face, broad shoulders, and his eyes never left the girls as he approached, unceremoniously shoving people aside along the way. Doubtless he had received an order to engage and apprehend within the last couple of seconds.
I had no idea how many more Faction agents there were in the vicinity. Spider’s capabilities, though improving, were limited now that he no longer had access to HQ’s central nexus, so he couldn’t answer that question either. This could have been a trap designed to capture me and bring me in. Charles had warned me not to do anything rash, and to avoid being taken in at all costs, but those girls were about to get caught. Once caught, they would be taken to the cells, separated, and questioned using whatever means necessary.
Spider, I’m going in, I said, tell Jamie to follow me.
What? No way! Abort, Max!
I turned back, descending the statue’s steps, and moved into the crowd with intent, yet not running or pushing. A hundred eyes glanced over me as I went, but not a single one seemed to recognize me, which meant my disguise was holding. This gave me the confidence to move even more quickly until, within the space of a minute, I was close enough to the girls to intercept them.
I smiled my brightest smile and approached.
“Hey guys,” I said. “I’m so glad you could make it!”
Daliah, who was the closest to me and thus the one I went toward first, seemed to hesitate a split second—more out of shock than because she didn’t recognize me. The girls had been told what Jamie and I would loo
k like. Daliah quickly reciprocated the hug I had invited her into. I squeezed tightly and moved my lips up to her ear, ensuring Kim could hear me too.
“When I say the word apple,” I whispered to both of them before the Faction agent could catch up to us, “you and Kim hit the floor.”
“Hey!” Daliah said. “We were looking for you.”
I broke away from the hug, but maintained the smile. “Sorry, I got a little carried away and lost track of time. Did I miss anything?”
The agent didn’t waste any time; he pulled out his badge, flashed it, and held his other hand out, signaling us to halt. Then, he pointed directly at me.
“I’m going to need to see some identification,” he said in a stern, authoritative voice. I could tell just by the way he had come up to us, like a bull in a china shop, that he was not only a fresh hunter, but also very much an idiot.
“I’m sorry, sir,” I said, taking charge of the situation and positioning myself between the hunter and the girls. “Is there something wrong?”
“No,” he said. “I just need to see your identification.”
Of course, he didn’t need to see their identification; he already knew who they were, didn’t he? I was definitely dealing with a rookie, but it wasn’t just him I was worried about—it was all of his hidden buddies. I needed to get the timing just right.
“Alright, I have it in my purse,” I said, opening the huge black bag I had looped over my shoulder. Inside there were no guns, no knives, no gadgets. The bag was, in fact, pretty empty considering its size, save for a number of large, red, delicious looking apples, rolling around on top of each other. They weren’t real, just an illusion I had conjured up.
He spotted them immediately and asked, “What are those?”