They know.
Tobin flung the door open, then stopped. They’d make it downstairs long before him. He shoved the gun into the waistband of his pants and grabbed a towel from beside the sink, before checking the monitors one last time. Nora darted into the third ballroom.
Without any hesitation, he wrapped the towel around his hands, grabbed the rope and launched himself over the side of the balcony.
Nora flew down the steps into the expansive receiving area that lined a row of large banquet rooms. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, keeping her head down to avoid cameras, and weaved through the groups of people dotting the space. She needed to make it through one of the rooms to get to the kitchen.
Everyone was already seated in the first room, and the second was locked. She had made it halfway down the hall when a metal door opened at the end. A young Tavian ran out, looking around. His deep black eyes fixed on her, and he mumbled something before taking a deliberate step.
Nora didn’t wait for anything else. She hurtled into the third reception hall where guests were mingling in a cocktail hour. She weaved around groups of people, white linen-covered tables, and outrageously elaborate floral arrangements. Instrumental music played from a DJ stand by the dance floor.
She ducked underneath an empty table, hoping that she had been able to hide before the Tavian could see her. They wouldn’t search every table with all these people around, would they? She didn’t dare peek.
People chattered around her table in cheerful tones, which was a good sign, but she was cornered. Eventually, she’d have to make a run for it.
A loud pop, and a flash momentarily lit up the tablecloth from the direction of the dance floor, followed by darkness and the piercing sound of speaker feedback. Nora covered her ears.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we appear to be having a problem with our sound system. We’re going to take a fifteen-minute break while we try to resolve this.”
The Tavians were trying to flush her out. If the room emptied, they’d have all the time in the world to look for her.
Time to go.
The crowd of feet on the other side of the tablecloth shuffled toward the door. She seized the opportunity and darted toward the kitchen. She stayed low, which slowed her speed, but staying hidden gave her the best chance if the Tavians were watching.
She had just passed the third table when an arm closed around her waist, pulling her backward.
Caught.
She kicked and reared back, trying to escape her captor’s hold before he spun her.
“Shh!” Tobin’s deep brown eyes met hers, and she instantly stopped fighting. “Let’s go.”
She followed him through the service entrance and sprinted through the kitchen despite the shocked wait staff.
They burst from the back door into the darkness and ran for the trees. A silhouette paced in the shadows, but Tobin didn’t slow. It wasn’t until they were within ten feet of the figure that Nora could make out Henry’s curls.
Nora slowed. “Where’s Charlotte?”
Tobin’s gaze fell to the ground, and Henry hung his head.
“She was shot. She teleported away,” Tobin replied quietly before putting a hand on her back to guide her. “We need to hurry, or the Tavians will try to do the same thing to us. Henry, go dark now.”
“Dark?” he squeaked. “Like all the way?”
“Yes.” Tobin barked. “They could track you otherwise.”
“Right. Okay.” Henry ducked into a grove of trees, and they followed. Tobin and Henry had the ATVs started in seconds. Tobin reached for Nora and lifted her onto the back of his own. “Hold on. It’s going to be a rough ride.”
Nora wrapped her hands around his wide chest, tucking her face into his back. With a reassuring squeeze of her hands, Tobin sped off behind Henry.
They traveled miles in darkness. Occasionally Nora would glance behind them, but she couldn’t see a thing.
When the ATVs slowed, she wasn’t sure if she should be happy they had escaped or terrified they weren’t going farther. They had barely cut the engines when Henry leaped from his ATV and started to pace.
“This is bad,” he shouted. “This is really bad!”
Tobin hopped off and offered his hand to Nora. “Before you went dark, were you able to contact anyone about Charlotte?”
“I know she made it to the medical facility, but it’s bad.” Henry’s curls shook as he spoke.
“If she made it to the medical facility, she’ll be okay. They’ve seen worse.” Tobin grabbed Nora’s hand and led her inside.
“How can you say that?”
Tobin raised his eyebrows. “Did you forget what I used to do? Get inside before someone hears you.”
Nora checked the trees as she walked. Dark. Silent. A single dirt road led away from the cabin, and their rental car was parked and ready for their escape.
But this wasn’t a win. The Tavians had gotten Charlotte. They’d keep coming. She swallowed hard. Who would they get next?
Inside, Tobin lit a single lantern and sat on a rickety cot in the corner of the one-room cabin, rubbing his face with his hands.
The tiny structure barely had heat, let alone indoor plumbing. Squeaky cots lined the walls, and a large cabinet stood by the door.
Henry scratched his head before flailing an arm in the direction of the resort. “Do you think they tracked our implants?”
Tobin shook his head, staring blankly ahead. She’d never seen him this nervous.
“It had been over twenty-four hours. If they had spotted her on automated surveillance they would have come a lot sooner,” Henry reasoned.
Tobin shrugged. “That’s probably true.”
“Then what was it?” Henry yelled, flailing his arms.
Tobin’s eyes darted to him, and he raised his eyebrows. Henry cringed.
“They were tracking something, but it wasn’t you. They didn’t change course at all when you two ran. They didn’t seem to react at all until they heard Charlotte open the door to the stairwell.”
Tobin’s eyes settled heavily on Nora. “They did, however, turn around when Nora dropped to the main banquet level. If it had just been the cameras, they wouldn’t have been able to follow her so closely.”
He rose and crossed the room to her. “I think they were tracking you.”
Her heart sped. How had they tracked her?
Henry shook his head. “I scanned her myself. She doesn’t have any implants.”
“I watched them zero in on her hiding in a banquet hall full of people. They would have had her in seconds if I hadn’t blown the speakers. We’re lucky they were overconfident and didn’t want to make a scene. Next time, they won’t hesitate.”
The Tavians had been close—closer than she’d known.
“In a room full of people?” Henry asked. “That’s not likely. Without an implant, they would need her full genetic profile to lock in on her signature that well—” He stopped pacing.
“Tobin,” he said, staring forward with an unfocused expression. “The genetic engineer.”
“The what?” Tobin asked.
“Doctor Fry,” Henry replied. “In addition to killing the Seers, the Tavians kidnapped a genetic engineer.”
Tobin flew from the cot, fists clenched. “You’re just telling me about this now!”
Henry’s hands splayed out in front of him. “I tried to tell you the full story when we first got to your house, but as I recall you weren’t keen on talking.”
“I’m listening now!”
“I read the report when I was looking for answers. One of our genetic engineers supposedly disappeared, and there was some reference to the intelligence recovered that the Tavians already had the blood of one of our Seers—Seer One, they’d called her.”
Tobin sneered. “A genetic engineer was kidnapped, they have her blood, and you idiots assumed this was all a big misunderstanding? Who’s running the Guard now?”
“I tried to do something,
but the council said the investigation—”
“If they have her profile, she won’t be able to hide. They’ll be able to find her in a crowd, in a forest…”
Tobin kicked the cot.
Henry shrugged. “You have to be close to the subject to use a genetic profile. Maybe we can get far away—”
“This is Jasper Bishop!” Tobin shouted. “They’ve found us three times already. They will always be right on our heels. We’ve got to get her back to Nios. It’s the only place she’ll be safe.”
Henry shook his head and sighed. “We needed Charlotte to get Nora back into Nios.”
Nora plodded to a cot and collapsed as the weight of the world came crashing down around her. They were tracking her, using her genetic makeup against her. If Nios wouldn’t protect her, this could only end one way.
A spark.
What if there was a way to make the Tavians think Nios was protecting her?
She gasped. “Charlotte said that the Tavians couldn’t pursue me if I got to Nios.”
Henry scoffed. “Yes, but—”
“What if there were a way to trick them into thinking I was there?”
Tobin paused his pacing and stared at her with raised eyebrows.
She turned to Henry. “You hacked your way into a five-star resort’s surveillance system. Could you change the profile they’re tracking?”
“It might work,” Tobin said with wide eyes. “If we switched out the profile for someone in Nios, they might detect her there, but they’d be chasing a ghost even if they sent covert teams back in.”
“No. It wouldn’t work.” Henry waved them both off. “From what I understand, their systems are organized similarly to ours. We treat genetic profiles like implant signatures. The actual data is stored in the mainframe and projected out to the people who need them.”
“So we figure out a way to change it on the mainframe,” Tobin replied like the answer was obvious.
Henry laughed. “You want to get into the Tavian mainframe?” His laughter trailed off as he watched Tobin. “Hotels are one thing, but hacking the Tavian mainframe?”
Tobin’s gaze hardened. “What would it take, Henry?”
“This isn’t like sneaking into an office and switching a file from a file cabinet. There are backups and copies and—”
“But can it be done?”
“You’re forgetting I’d need access to their mainframe, which is in Octavius.” He pointed to his temple. “With my implant, that’s impossible.”
“What if I were to get into Octavius?” Tobin asked. “I don’t have my implants anymore. Could you send me with what I needed?”
Nora leaped from her cot. “No. I don’t want that. It would be too dangerous. We can find another way.”
Tobin kept his focus on Henry.
“You’d still have to deal with hundreds, maybe thousands of Tavian guards,” Henry said, his curls bouncing. “You have no idea where you’re going!”
Tobin shrugged. “That’s not entirely accurate. Remember the Geneva incident?”
Henry’s wide blue eyes sparked with recognition. “When the Tavians insisted we murdered one of their guards?”
Tobin rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t murder—exactly.”
Henry vigorously shook his head. “I’m glad Charlotte isn’t here right now. That’s a blatant violation of the treaty. She would be livid.”
“The Tavians kidnapped a genetic engineer, killed seven Seers, and are now tracking Nora with her stolen genetic profile, and you want to talk about the treaty?” Tobin’s voice thundered. “That Tavian was a thug we caught racketeering throughout Europe. He wouldn’t go peacefully, and we knew there’d be a backlash for his death, so I may have cloned his implants.”
Henry’s mouth dropped open. “You cloned a Tavian implant?”
“We needed the intel.” There wasn’t an ounce of remorse in Tobin’s voice. “I needed to access their maps in case they tried to take one of our guards in retaliation. I memorized how to get to the Tavian cell blocks.”
Nora bit her lip, fighting a smile. It didn’t surprise her at all that he would do something like that.
After a long silence, Henry cleared his throat. “You’re right. All that matters now is keeping Nora safe.” He sighed and scratched his head. “If I could get you in with the data you’d need, you think you could get to the mainframe?”
Tobin sighed. “There’s a couple of points that will require more planning, but yeah.”
“Okay,” Henry replied, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try. I need to get to a computer.”
Tobin nodded. “Let’s make that happen.” He grabbed the keys to the rental car outside. “But we’re going to need to put some serious distance between us and this place before we do.”
Chapter 18
Jasper clenched his fist, then stretched his fingers. After he had returned empty-handed, he'd punched a two-foot hole in one of the walls at Headquarters. The fresh, pink bruising expanded and contorted with the movement, which kept it from stiffening. Hopefully he’d be on their trail again soon, and he’d need the use of his left hand.
Elbows on the balcony railing, he stared out on the gardens. When Tobin had killed Laird and Atticus, Jasper had blamed them for their carelessness. When he’d created the chaos at the library, Jasper had assumed it was because he wasn’t there to control the situation.
This time was different.
This time, Kalos had outsmarted him. Jasper clenched his fist again. He never let anyone get the best of him—not Cyrus, not Tiberius, not even Remington Sacarro, and definitely not some washed-up Niotian guard.
No one except Annabel, that is.
He glanced over his shoulder at the door leading to her bedroom. Even now, as angry as he was and as much as he needed to focus, he was on the balcony of her suite because he couldn't stay away from her.
He rubbed a hand over his face. He had work to do. It didn’t matter how good Kalos was; Jasper was better. He would accomplish his mission. He would capture Leonora, and he would probably enjoy killing Kalos a little more than he should.
Jasper would be ready next time.
He checked his messages on his implant. Nothing new had come in. Adrian had a whole team of analysts reviewing surveillance footage, and monitoring computer servers for suspicious activity. Brock and Aaron had their teams on alert, ready to respond the second Jasper gave the command.
It wasn't enough.
He pulled up the after-action review. He would go through it again, and again, as many times as it took to find every weakness.
The door to Annabel’s bedroom opened behind him, and he couldn’t stop a smile. The thick wall of text projected in front of him seemed to blur.
“I didn’t know you were back,” she said, joining him at the railing. Her hair looked like spun silver as she gazed out over the gardens, and for a moment the only sound was the trickling of the brook.
He blinked hard to refocus himself on the report, but his heart pulled him away. “Did I wake you?”
Her lips twitched with a hint of a smile. “I don’t mind.”
At any other time, he would have seen her reply as an opening. They’d had a setback, but last night, she’d asked him to stay, she responded to his touch—the idea of them was taking root with her. He’d waited years for this, but it would have to wait a little longer.
“You should get some rest,” he said, stretching his hand.
Her eyes darted to it and remained locked there. “What happened?”
“This?” He held up his hand. “It’s nothing—”
She reached out and grabbed it, pulling it close to inspect it. The warmth in her touch stopped his thoughts.
Her clear-blue gaze slowly traveled up his arm and finally met his eyes. She laced her fingers with his and took a step toward the door. “You’re cold. Come inside.”
An invitation—and it was more than just to warm up.
There
was a them.
He stepped with her but stopped and dropped her hand. He clamped his eyes shut. No matter how bad he wanted this—and he wanted it badly—he had a mission. “I can’t. I’ve got too much I have to do.”
She shrugged and twisted a shimmering lock of hair in her fingers. “How much can be done overnight? Come with me. It could be like before.”
His feet took him a couple more steps before he realized he was moving, but a red light blinking in his periphery stopped him. A message. Any moment now, they could find Leonora. The entire Tavian Guard would be waiting on his orders. He had to stay focused. Self-denial had been a cornerstone of his ascension through the ranks. He’d need it now more than ever.
He dropped his head. “I can’t.”
She reached for him, and his heart felt like it was about to explode. “Why not? We used to be so close.”
She was living in the past, back when they were friends and he was a Level-2 guard that took beatings after he’d been spotted with her. His gaze traveled down her figure and up again without his consent. Even if he didn’t have a mission, he didn’t want to go backward.
He returned to his spot at the railing. “We can’t go back. I’m Head of the Guard. I have a job to do.”
She scoffed. “Yeah. You reminded me of that before.”
He flexed his hands. Was she really so blinded by her hatred for her brother that she couldn’t understand how much was riding on this? A Seer could dissuade any challengers to her brother’s rule. She would be safe.
“I’m in the middle of a mission!” he said. “I can’t just drop everything because you want to pretend we’re kids again.”
Her eyes hardened. “Pretend?”
He sighed quietly. Not the best choice of words. He’d have to figure out a way to make this right. But it couldn’t be tonight.
“Leonora got away again. I have to be ready,” he said.
“Don’t let me keep you.” Her voice was as hard as her eyes. She stormed to the door like he was the enemy.
“You know, this mission benefits you, too—”
She spun so quickly her hair lifted from her shoulders. “Don’t. I’m not one of your stupid guards who believes every word you say.”
The Seers Page 15
