All at once I felt her. Faintly and distorted. Like looking down the wrong end of a pair of binoculars. Red filled my vision. Blood. We’re here, I told her. The connection broke, and I sagged against the trailer, my head throbbing.
“You okay?” Jace grabbed my shoulder.
“It’s bad in there.” Fighting weakness in my knees, I breathed in deeply, absorbing from the air, rich with moisture from the nearby river. “Be careful. There’s at least one person standing guard on the right side of the palace. Must be watching the door.”
Jace edged around the back of the trailer. “Why is this unlocked? Cover me while I check it out.” He darted around the back, pulled open one of the trailer’s doors, and jumped inside. Less than thirty seconds later, he jumped down. “Ah, crap.” Leaning over, he vomited on the ground.
Keene and I hurried to peer inside. Dimly lit by the single streetlight, the limp bodies of the Hunters sprawled inside, each with a gaping cut across their throats. Mari’s dead husband stared back at us, his eyes wide with horror. My stomach churned, but I didn’t follow Jace’s example.
“The Emporium’s here, all right,” Keene said grimly, gazing at the palace. “Bars on the windows. How do we get in? If your people are holed up in one of those rooms, they don’t have long.”
Jace wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “The doors.” His eyes when they met mine were troubled, but there was no shielding my little brother from this. He was Unbounded and both blood and death were a part of our future.
I nodded. “That’s right. I vote for a direct assault.” Ritter might have been able to come up with something else, but he wasn’t here and Jace was too inexperienced. We had only Keene, once our enemy, to guide us.
“Let’s go, then.” Keene started across the gravel, ducking behind the next car.
“You go,” Jace told me. “I’ll cover you.”
I followed Keene, not even limping now. A silenced bullet whizzed past me, and less than a heartbeat later, Jace fired two shots. A man staggered from the shadows at the far end of the house. “Mortal,” I called as he fell. That meant he was probably down to stay.
The front door was ajar and Keene kicked it opened.
From the back of the house we heard a crash and the piercing scream of a child.
SPENCER! THOUGH IT COULD JUST as easily be Kathy’s scream.
Two men emerged from corners of the lobby. Unbounded. I didn’t have time to shout a warning before Keene began firing, diving for the cover of the front desk. Everything exploded into sound and movement. Jace at the door, running so fast he was a blur. A window shattering, the chandelier swinging wildly. Two more men and a woman leaping down the stairs. Two mortals, one Unbounded. There had to be more in the hotel or Ava and the others would have appeared by now.
With so many of them, we didn’t stand much of a chance. Leaving Jace and Keene to deal with the newcomers, I headed toward the conference room where I thought I’d heard the scream. It was empty, but huge holes in the conference table and Stella’s wrecked computers showed I was on the right trail. A small potted plant that normally sat in the middle of the table, lay tipped on its side, dirt scattered everywhere. For two months I’d watered the stupid thing—only to have it end up like this. It seemed to embody everything the Emporium stood for.
I sprinted to the other side of the room, fear choking me. The plant could be saved or replaced, but not the children. I had to hurry. Out the far door and down another hall I went, checking doors along the way—closets, office, weapons pantry. I found nothing but bullet holes, blood, and the occasional body. Not ours. At least not yet.
A subdued life force signaled the presence of someone behind me, someone who was shielding. I turned, pulling the trigger on my Sig, but the man was already diving to the side, anticipating my move. The bullet dug into the wall. “Stop! It’s me.”
I hesitated. “Ritter?”
“Yep. Try not to shoot at me again, okay? At least not tonight.” His voice was casual but his emotions flared, breaking through his control: relief at seeing me, anger, desire for revenge. A cut marred the brow above his left eye and the skin of his cheek below it, as though someone had sliced him with a knife. Red stained his blue T-shirt and a blood-saturated rag circled one of his biceps. It was all I could do not to throw myself at him to make sure he was really okay.
Another scream shattered my relief at seeing him alive. This time I was sure it came from Spencer.
“Where are the kids?” I barked.
“They were with Stella and Oliver in the gym.” He motioned in the direction I’d been heading. “Ava and I were in the upstairs sitting room. We had a dozen Emporium agents break in there. I just now got free. Ava’s gone to help Jace.”
I started forward, with Ritter following close behind. Had Stella and the kids been able to hide? No. Something had made Spencer scream. I looked back at Ritter. “What about Mari?”
“She was with us, but she—” He broke off, his brow gathering. “She . . . disappeared.”
Disappeared? There was no time to pursue that further. We’d reached the double doors of the gym. One was shut, but the other lay askew on its hinges. We could hear fighting inside.
Without hesitation, Ritter slipped through the door first, his black eyes glittering dangerously, although he carried no weapons that I could see. I hurried after him. In the middle of the gym Stella battled two Unbounded women with a bo staff. Guns littered the floor and all the women bled from various wounds. A short distance behind Stella, two Unbounded men sprawled on the ground, riddled with bullets. One moved slightly even as I caught sight of him. Oliver lay between the two men, his face deathly pale. He pushed to a seated position, his blood-drenched chest convulsing with the effort.
But where were the children?
A bark directed my attention to a table next to the small fridge we’d installed in the corner. The kids huddled under this, Kathy with her arms around Spencer, shielding him with her body. Max stood in front of them, growling deep in his throat, his feet apart and eyes blazing.
A mortal near them was shoving a new magazine into his pistol. Kill the damn mutt. The thought came to me as clearly as if he’d spoken.
I launched toward the man as Stella fell with a cry. One of her opponents jumped on her, pushing a staff against her throat, the small mound of Stella’s baby between them. No! While Stella wouldn’t die from being choked, she would lose consciousness and any extended lack of air would kill her child, if the fight already hadn’t done irrevocable damage.
Ritter was already halfway to her. No chance for me to fire now without hitting one of them. The other Unbounded woman raced toward Oliver, who’d regained his feet. He brought up an escrima stick to defend himself, but his apparent weakness and her solid bulk promised a short fight. I’d help him—after I saved the children.
The mortal saw me coming and shifted his pistol in my direction. I was faster. Two shots and he was down.
“Behind you!” Kathy shouted.
I turned to see one of the wounded Unbounded men coming toward me, moving with a speed and agility that signaled his talent was combat. I pulled the trigger, but he was too fast and the shot went wide. A left hook sent me to the ground. I twisted as I fell, kicking out at him. He staggered, giving me enough time to get to my feet. I punched; he blocked. He punched; I ducked. Veins bulged in his neck, and his dark eyes were murderous. No matter how much I’d trained, this wasn’t a fight I could win.
Behind the man, I glimpsed Ritter now fighting both female Unbounded. He moved with incredible speed, blocking before a punch was thrown, stepping out of reach at the last moment. At least one of the women was also gifted in combat. Probably both. It was a miracle Stella had been able to protect the others as long as she had. She wasn’t moving now.
“Stop or I’ll kill her!” The mortal I’d shot had come to one elbow, his gun pointed toward Kathy. Max growled, but that was no defense against a bullet.
Pain exploded in my head and
in my ribs as my Unbounded opponent rewarded my distraction with the mortal. I fell, gasping for breath. The room spun around me. I struggled to my feet, half blinded.
What should I do? I felt paralyzed. If we gave up, most of us were as good as dead anyway. My brother had forgiven me for the death of his wife, but losing his children—I didn’t know if either of us could recover from that.
A sudden, strange pulse waved through the room, stealing what breath I had left with its intensity.
“Police!” came a shout near the door.
What? I jerked my head toward the door where a dozen armed men had appeared in SWAT clothing. They looked competent, dangerous, and willing to kill. Two near the front also looked familiar, but I couldn’t place them. Relief swept through me for an instant before I realized that something didn’t fit.
There were no sparks of life forces, no feeling that marked one real person, much less a dozen determined men. If they were blocking, I’d still be able to at least sense their presence this close. So either they were all sensing Unbounded who could hide their presence from me, or they didn’t exist at all. Yet I caught a whiff of tobacco and gun oil. They even smelled real. It had to be some kind of a trick. An illusion meant to confuse. But whose? The Emporium Unbounded were every bit as surprised as I was, their shields wavering enough that I could sense their shock quite clearly. How could I use that to my advantage?
I couldn’t. Not with that gun aimed at Kathy.
Wait. It wasn’t quite aimed at her. The man, gaping at the police, had lowered it so the barrel pointed downward.
Ritter’s mind was still dark, so there was no way for me to warn him that the policemen weren’t really there without also alerting the Emporium agents. Diving for my Sig, I rolled and came up shooting. First the mortal and then my Unbounded opponent. I emptied the rest of the magazine. If that didn’t do it, I had nothing left.
Ritter was only a heartbeat behind me. One powerful blow took out the larger Unbounded
woman. The other, seeing the change in the battle, backed away from him, glancing toward the officers near the door, who still looked tough and ready but unmoving. Even as we watched, they vanished, taking the smell of tobacco with them.
The Emporium woman fled the room.
Ritter glanced at me.
“I’m okay,” I shouted. “Go.”
Actually, my eyesight was still half dark, and I almost couldn’t breathe. A couple ribs were busted at the least. But I wanted revenge every bit as much as he did.
He dipped his head once and sprang after her, the taut lines of his body screaming in anticipation.
I breathed in deeply, absorbing consciously. I needed energy.
“Are you okay?” Kathy’s voice, stronger than I expected. She scuttled over to me, with Spencer still clinging to her waist.
I forced myself to a seated position and tried not to wince as I put my arms around them. “I’m fine. Are you guys hurt?” Max licked my hand.
“We’re okay,” Kathy said. “Stella was great. She wouldn’t let them get to us.”
My eyes went to Stella. She was breathing but unconscious. I wished Dimitri were here and not in Mexico. He’d be able to tell in an instant if the baby was okay, and with his ability, he could often prolong life simply with the touch of his hands.
“Oliver helped,” Kathy added. “He was shooting like crazy.”
Oliver. He was sitting on the floor, staring vacantly at the door, his confusion pounding at my senses. I caught a glimpse of the SWAT team in his mind, exactly as it had appeared. But there was also a TV, and now I recognized characters from a popular weekly show.
All at once, I understood what Ava and Oliver himself hadn’t yet realized. He could create illusions. I’d read documentation about the ability, but it had been lost among Unbounded for centuries, along with some of the other mental gifts. The theory was that both mathematics and sensing had to be in the Unbounded’s heritage in order to develop the ability.
Oliver. Useless, full-of-himself Oliver had a gift that might prove vital to the Renegade movement. It was almost too much to believe.
“I’d better see to Stella. Kathy, stay here with Spencer. It’s going to be okay. Uncle Jace and Ritter will make sure.” I extracted myself from them, told Max to stay, and climbed awkwardly to my feet, gritting my teeth against the pain in my ribs that was echoed by a renewed throbbing in my ankle. It felt a lot like broken glass inside the skin.
I took my gun with me, slapping in a new magazine, and double-checking on the unconscious Unbounded. The two men weren’t even breathing, but that could change at any minute as their bodies made repairs.
Kneeling beside Stella, I shook her head gently. No response. She was cut, scraped, and bruised over much of her exposed body. No telling what internal injuries she may have suffered. My hands went to the tiny mound of her growing baby. Two months ago I’d been able to tell that she was pregnant before she was sure that her missed cycle meant anything important. She was scarcely more than three months along now. Had she been heavier and a bit taller, her baby bulge might not be noticeable at all.
Looking one last time at the fallen Unbounded to make sure they weren’t moving, I closed my eyes and reached out. All I felt was a pounding in my head and an urge to vomit. Some talent I had.
Wait. There it was, a tiny, almost imperceptible spark of life, a minuscule pumping, so subtle compared to the ache in my head. My relief turned to worry as I contemplated the faint heartbeat. Every so often, the beat missed, as though it struggled to continue.
Stella had lost so much, and without Dimitri here, I feared she would lose this final piece of her husband.
Live, I told the baby, knowing the effort was useless. I wasn’t a healer. The outcome would be whatever was destined.
“Is she all right?” Oliver had lost his fascination with the door and pulled himself over to where I sat. Blood stained the entire front of his shirt and the way he held himself, I knew it was his own.
“She’ll be fine. Don’t know about the baby.”
Oliver frowned. “I was no good to her. All I could do was fire the gun. She was like a maniac, trying to save us all.”
I swallowed hard. “But you did help. You saved all of us with that illusion.”
“What are you . . .” He stopped. “That was real? I thought I was hallucinating.”
“You didn’t think it was strange they looked like those actors in that show you watch every week?”
He gave me a weak smile. “Does this mean I’m part of the group?”
“You always were.”
“No. I was useless.”
I sighed. “We all felt that way in the beginning.” Who was I kidding? I still felt that way most days. It only meant I had to work harder.
Clattering down the hall diverted my attention. Lifting my gun, I aimed at the door, releasing a sharp breath as Jace’s head came into view. He nodded at me and began checking the Unbounded.
Ava appeared moments later, several syringes in her hand. She tossed one to Jace. “Give ten mils to each. That should hold them at least twenty-four hours.”
“That one’s human,” I said, knowing ten milligrams of Ava’s cocktail would kill a mortal.
Jace checked his pulse. “Won’t matter. He’s dead.”
Dead.
My eyes burned as I stared at the inert form, knowing his death represented how far I was willing to go to protect my family and friends. Saving them should make seeing his lifeless body easier, but somehow it didn’t. “All of ours okay?” I asked.
Ava knelt next to me, uncapping a syringe. Curequick gel by the thickness of the needle. “Everyone’s fine except Gaven. I’m sorry, but he’s dead.”
I lifted eyes that wouldn’t focus properly. Gaven? Only hours ago he’d been calming Mari in the park. He’d survived government black ops and years with the Renegades, but now he was gone. “What about Mari?” I choked.
Ava began injecting Stella near the worst of her woun
ds. “I’m not sure. She disappeared during the fighting.”
“Do you think they have her?” Mari was an innocent. There was no way she could protect herself.
“I don’t think so, but it is a possibility. It all happened so fast. We were defending ourselves when we heard you come in downstairs, and when I looked around, she wasn’t there.” Ava sighed. “Ritter’s searching for her now. Look, I need you to get Stella and Oliver and the kids out of here. Go to Stella’s. I can’t send anyone with you since I need the others to clean up here, but you can call Chris and tell him to meet you there. He should be finished fueling the plane by now. I’d planned for him to stay there in case we decided to fly out tonight, but Cort and Dimitri are going to have to be on their own for a while. We’re not leaving any of these bastards to fight again.”
There was no venom in her voice, only a determined calmness, but her choice of words chilled me. Ava never swore. Few of the older Renegade Unbounded did. They’d been raised in a time where gutter words signaled poor education, children respected their elders, and marriage meant a lifetime commitment.
That was one of the reasons I’d trusted Ritter’s promise.
“Okay,” I said, taking a syringe from her. I should use it on myself, but Oliver needed it worse than I did. He’d collapsed again and seemed to be struggling for breath. One of the bullets must have clipped his lung. Besides, there should still be enough curequick in my system from earlier to help me recover now.
“I may need to call someone to look at them.” I told Ava, as I inserted the needle into Oliver’s chest. He flinched but didn’t open his eyes. Both he and Stella would eventually heal without help, though getting out bullets and stopping the bleeding would speed up matters. Besides, I was worried about the baby.
“What about that doctor you have working with your dad?” Ava put her arms under Stella and lifted the shorter woman.
I nodded. Dimitri would be better, but Wade Crampton would do in a pinch. The doctor worked at the local university teaching and conducting research on transplants with government grants. I’d hired him on the side to piggyback a study on his research that might reduce my father’s dependence on anti-rejection drugs for his heart. Or my heart, actually. The one that now beat in his chest. I’d grown a new one since the hospital and didn’t miss it.
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