The Cure

by Teyla Branton

  “So?”

  “The hospital deals only with addiction.”

  I considered for a moment. Her comments told me Ritter’s foster son was Unbounded, something I hadn’t realized during my discussion with him in the forest. I’d figured he was a mortal, probably still fairly young, but his being Unbounded changed my perception about what kind of worry Ritter had endured. Alcohol didn’t stay in our systems long, and for recreational drugs—or any drug—to work for more than a few hours, an Unbounded had to ingest it in extremely concentrated quantities, like the drug we used to keep Emporium Unbounded unconscious during transport. The only exception was curequick. That also didn’t stay in the system long, but it was potent enough in its regular form to cause addiction in even a short time, and it was easily available among Unbounded, so the dosage could be repeated often. I’d heard enough horror stories about curequick addiction to make me shun it for everything but emergencies.

  Justine laughed. “We all have our dirty little secrets.”

  I knew she’d kill Ritter as readily as he’d kill her, given the chance, and his foster son might be that chance. I’d have to warn Ritter.

  “Was he one of the Renegades following my people in the jungle?” Justine asked, sympathy oozing from her voice. “Poor, Erin. For what it’s worth, I’m very sorry. But believe me, you’re better off without him.”

  Without waiting for an answer, she strode over to Edgel. “Let’s get this ready to go. Jonny hasn’t returned from his little scouting tour, and I don’t like that we can’t contact them and that someone’s messing with the satellites. They should have arrived hours ago. Make sure we keep everything just as our dearly departed doctor set it up. Leave all the equipment. Like him, it’s no longer necessary. There won’t be time for a second batch.”

  If the drug didn’t work, would they resort to their original plan, or take out the senator later? Or was there some added angle we weren’t seeing, as Keene suspected? Justine’s emotions had gone completely dark again, another indication of her worry.

  Edgel got down to work. I’d heard of people cutting off their own limbs to escape a difficult situation, and if I had something sharp, I’d be tempted to cut off my hand to free it from the rope. At least my limb would regrow. Sitting there doing nothing was driving me insane.

  There wasn’t much to pack. Justine and Edgel carried the necessary items out to her SUV and were back within minutes, but this time Jonny was with them, and he was breathing hard. “You’re sure?” Justine was saying to him.

  Jonny nodded. “I can only assume things didn’t go exactly as planned.”

  Yes! Hope changed everything.

  “Get them.” Justine gestured toward Benito and me, pulling out my machete and handing it to Jonny. “We’re leaving now. Hurry!”

  “We aren’t staying to help?” Edgel beat Jonny to the hammock and cut Benito’s rope with his own knife, tossing the man over his shoulder.

  “I can’t risk them getting back the drug or the information.” She hesitated, gauging Edgel’s reaction before adding. “You can stick around, if you must, but stay out of sight until our guys arrive. Surround the Renegades. But make sure you don’t get caught. I’ll need you later.”

  Edgel gave her a hard look, apparently irritated at her attempt to school him in combat strategy. Justine must have forgotten to emit her pheromones to ease his annoyance. “Just keep that research safe,” he said. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

  Jonny cut the ends of my rope and handed the machete back to Justine. While she grabbed a few more items from a table, he drew his pistol, pulled me to my feet, and shoved me toward the door, holding my rope like a leash. I dragged my feet. “Don’t make me shoot you.” His smile didn’t falter, but his tone didn’t quite contain his usual youthful exuberance.

  Shooting me was exactly what he would have to do to get me into Justine’s SUV.

  I waited to act until we cleared the door. By that time, Edgel had already dumped Benito into the SUV and was disappearing into the forest with an automatic rifle. Jonny’s eyes followed him, a surge of jealousy breaking through his defenses. Accompanying the emotion was the desperate wish that his Change hadn’t been forced early, and the belief that if it hadn’t, he would have developed the full combat ability instead of only the speed. For the moment, his bitterness blotted out everything else. That he could just as well be wrong in his assumption didn’t make a difference.

  “Hurry it up, Jonny,” Justine barked as she strode past us to the SUV.

  Gathering up a bit of slack from the rope, I took a few steps away from Jonny and yanked as hard as I could, pulling it from his grasp. He stumbled but recovered faster than I could blink.

  I ran.

  A shot whizzed past me, and I belatedly remembered to dodge. Unfortunately, I was heading in the direction of the jungle where Edgel had disappeared. Half expecting him to materialize, I hurtled on.

  Something large slammed into me from behind: Jonny. I tumbled to the ground, kicking out at him. Air whooshed from his lungs as he toppled backward. Had he dropped his gun? I jumped to my feet, ignoring the screaming in my ribs. The idiot had broken another of my ribs, and after I’d healed from Edgel’s punch this morning.

  Jonny was on his feet even before I was. The gun wasn’t in his hand. I lashed out, finding flesh. Jonny’s response was a terrific blow to my stomach. Agony erupted in my ribs.

  “Hurry, hurry!” Justine shouted. “They’re coming!”

  Sure enough, farther down in the sparse village, the Pinz was moving as fast as it could toward us.

  I slugged Jonny with my tied hands, catching him on the jaw, but not hard enough to do much good. He was even faster at dodging than Jace or Ritter. I had to give him that. If I could land even one solid blow, he’d be out. He wasn’t much bigger than I was.

  Justine revved the engine and zoomed past us. Jonny threw one last punch and took off after her on foot. My head reeled.

  The Pinz roared toward me, the passenger door opening. Ritter held out an arm, and I reached for him. Again the agony exploding in my chest as he pulled me inside. To my relief, Jace was driving. He looked no worse for wear, except for a layer of dirty sweat on his face. There was no sign of Cort and Dimtri.

  The Pinz had only one front passenger seat, so I stayed on Ritter’s lap. It wasn’t a bad place to be. His arms encircled me, the hard warmth of his chest giving me the ridiculous feeling of being safe. A knife had somehow materialized in his hands, and he began severing my bonds.

  “Benito?” he asked.

  “Justine’s got him in that SUV.”

  Jace scowled. “We’ll never catch them. Not unless she stays in the jungle.”

  “We can’t go after them anyway. We need to get back to Cort and Dimitri.” Ritter sounded worried.

  “Where are they?”

  “Back a couple miles. That’s where the Emporium caught up to us.”

  I couldn’t believe they’d leave the others.

  As if sensing my disapproval, Ritter said shortly, “We all agreed we had to risk getting the research. We failed. Now we go back.”

  Jace was already guiding the Pinz around the hut, thundering over tall brush instead of wasting time backing up to turn around. “We got you, at least.”

  “How’d you even know I was here?” My body jolted to the side as Jace swung back to the shorter vegetation between the scattered huts. Ritter’s grasp tightened, holding me in place. His touch felt right. I wanted to apologize, but now wasn’t the time.

  “We scouted around at first light this morning. Found their trail just like we planned. Like a sign inviting us to come along. Easy.” Ritter’s breath felt hot on the back of my neck. “Too easy, apparently. We were getting in the Pinz to follow when Mari showed up.”

  “Mari?”

  Jace guffawed. “Yeah, Dimitri was behind a bush taking care of business, and he turned around and there she was. Her ability led her right to him. She told us they had taken you somepl
ace, and we figured that’s where they were going, so we followed a little faster. But like Ritter said, it was too easy. Like they wanted us to catch up. We began to suspect a trap. That’s when Ritter had the great idea to send Mari back with a GPS and get a reading where you actually were.”

  So I had sensed Mari. “That was a risk. What if she’d been caught?”

  “She wanted to do it,” Ritter said. “And a good thing she did because they were leading us completely the wrong way. So, we turned around and came after you.”

  “They sent one man and the scientist,” I explained. “They arrived hours ago. They’ve made that drug Hertenstein warned us about. It’s not quite finished, but Justine apparently has everything they need. They’re going to use it during the senator’s celebration this afternoon. There’s supposed to be a lot of people there. School children will be performing. Worse, they’ll be in range of a cell tower soon. We won’t be able to stop them from getting out copies of the research.”

  The men took a moment to absorb the information. “We still have to do what we can,” Jace said. “To save those children, I mean.”

  Ritter nodded. “I agree. And there’s always a possibility we’ll get the research back, especially with how power-hungry Justine is. She may want to keep the new drug to herself for now.” His words made me feel better, though not by much.

  “She killed both scientists,” I said, my stomach curling at the memory. “At this point, I’d be happy just to get a copy of the research for Stella, regardless of what Justine does with it.”

  “This could be the beginning of the end.” The grimness in Ritter’s voice reminded me of the high stakes. No longer was it just Bronson’s life at stake. This was the future of the world—and who would run it.

  It seemed we’d lost already. Yet not one of us would give up.

  “Almost there.” Ritter stared out the windshield.

  I craned my neck and squinted, seeing only two abandoned jeeps in the overgrown path ahead. “Those belong to the Emporium, I’m guessing, but where are they?”

  “Jungle. I guess.”

  “But Mari doesn’t know how to fight.”

  “She’s not there.”

  “What?”

  Ritter shrugged. “She shifted when they caught up to us. She seems to have gotten the hang of popping in and out. We don’t know where she went, but she’ll be okay.”

  Unless she’d gone back to the hotel and Tom found her. But surely she’d be expecting him to look for her there. Knowing her value, at least he wouldn’t kill her right away.

  “I need weapons.” Twisting my body, I put my foot on the seat between Ritter’s legs and hoisted myself into the back. A jolt of the Pinz landed me on top of a mound of supplies, and pain knifed through me again. I went for the large green duffel where we kept a variety of smaller weapons. I began stocking up, feeling an odd nostalgia for the machete. I hadn’t given it to Justine, but nothing had happened to her, so maybe whatever ancient magic permeated the strange metal needed more time.

  Or it was nonsense.

  Grabbing a clear bottle of curequick, I chugged it down. No time to worry about addiction. I needed to be in top form. I’d been absorbing, but my ribs needed some extra attention. Even with the curequick, I couldn’t heal instantly, but in ten minutes I’d be feeling a lot better. By four o’clock, I’d be ready to face Justine again. I really needed to find her before then.

  “Grab a vest, too,” Ritter said.

  I didn’t like the extra weight, but it would be better not to risk a bullet to the heart. Even dying temporarily would mean less chance of helping Bronson.

  The Pinz lurched to a stop, and I turned to say, “There’s a group of people to the left. They’re all running. We’d get there faster if you can drive through the trees.”

  Jace was only too happy to try. The Pinz rocked back and forth as we rolled through the jungle, crushing vegetation as we went. I staggered to the front of the back section, so I could cling to the edges of Ritter and Jace’s seats and peer through the windshield. We were going up an incline, leaving a battered trail of jungle vegetation behind us. I hoped we weren’t displacing any more black howler monkeys.

  The blocked minds I’d felt before must have moved out of reach because they’d all vanished. When I tried to reach further, my mind sent a white flash of hot pain.

  “Can’t go on,” Jace said, as we caught sight of a huge pile of rocks beneath a tall cliff. “Brush is too thick.”

  I pushed outward again, catching only the faintest pinpoints of several life forces. “I think they’re behind those rocks.” Not rocks, really, but boulders that years ago must have fallen from the cliff and rolled to their current position, now covered by abundant vines. I could hear the sound of running water in the distance.

  Slinging on his FAL, Ritter opened his door and jumped out, landing at the same time as Jace. I climbed over the seat and joined them. We could hear rushing water but couldn’t see its source.

  “Anything?” Jace asked as we ran toward the rocks. “Look for two people by themselves.”

  I shook my head. “Sorry. Too far away.”

  A single gunshot marred nature’s melody and cut short any discussion. We ran faster, jumping thick vines and old logs, skirting taller brush and trees. Within minutes we reached the rocks that now loomed over us. Ritter motioned for Jace to go one way and me the other, while he began climbing the rocks. Three more rapid gunshots cranked up our pace.

  I was nearly around the rocks when an earthy consciousness appeared on my radar, moving fast. A sound escaped my lips. Ritter appeared far above me on the rocks. “What is it?” he called.

  “Him.” I tipped my head at a native who had emerged from the trees. His face was dark and leathery, but his bare arms were strong and supple. He wore brown pants, a loosely-woven top the color of mixed jungle greens, and a belt that tied at the waist and hung down with a fringed end. A worn but colorful cloth bag graced his shoulder, and a brown hat sat on graying hair that twisted into two long braids. It was impossible for me to guess his age, but his dark eyes were bottomless, as though they’d seen more than his share of both beauty and heartache. He held up a hand, blocking my passage.

  “I don’t think he wants me to go any further,” I called to Ritter. “Better tell him we have to help our friends.”

  “Assuming he can communicate in any of the dialects I know.” Ritter jumped the twenty-odd feet from his perch on the rocks, somehow landing without injuring himself. He began speaking in the flowing, musical language he’d used yesterday with the other Maya. When the man didn’t respond, Ritter tried again. More music, but this time with a faint rush of the wind.

  Still no response, though the man appeared to be listening. I reached out to him, pushing at the sand stream of his thoughts until images rushed toward me, flavored by a language I didn’t understand. Fortunately, images didn’t require language. “It’s sacred ground,” I said. “I’m seeing religious rites. And a burial site, a tomb behind the waterfall. He’s upset.”

  Jace appeared behind us. “What’s the holdup? I was almost around the rock when two natives just like this guy appeared out of nowhere, blocking my path. I was about to go through them when I thought I heard Erin calling.”

  “Must have been me projecting. Sorry.” I shot him a frown. “You need to keep your shield up.” So did I. “Anyway, we’re not sure what’s going on yet.”

  Ritter made still another attempt at communication, this time stumbling over the words.

  The Maya nodded and replied briefly.

  “Not the same dialect at all,” Ritter said, “but I think he more or less understood me every time I tried. All the dialects have similarities. I have no idea what he said back, though.”

  I pushed an image of Cort and Dimitri toward the Maya. In my make-believe image they were running from men with guns and long swords, like Ritter and Jace wore in their back sheaths. Edgel hadn’t been wearing a sword, but he’d been in public at
the hotel. I was sure at least a few of the other Emporium agents would have them.

  The Maya’s gaze shifted to me, his head tilting to one side as if listening. “Our friends,” I said, sending the image again. “We have to help them.” Lacking another idea, I pushed out an image of Cort and Dimitri huddled together behind Ritter, who stood at attention with his sword raised in a protective stance—a gun seemed wrong for this place.

  The Maya held up both hands and spoke. In his mind, I saw us climbing back into the Pinz.

  “What’s he saying?” Jace asked.

  Ritter shook his head. “I think he wants us to leave. It’s hard to tell.” Three more gunshots pierced the forest calm. “We can’t wait any longer. We’ll have to go around him. Or through him.” Ritter sounded as though he already regretted the decision and the damage we would cause.

  Yet the picture in the Maya’s mind showed Dimitri and Cort standing outside the Pinz beside the Maya himself. “Ask him if he’ll bring them to us.”

  “What?” Ritter arched a brow.

  “It’s worth a shot. As satisfying as getting rid of those Emporium Unbounded would be, we’ve got planning to do if we’re going to stop Justine. The important thing right now is getting Cort and Dimitri back safely.” There was also the very big chance that one or more of us wouldn’t make it out alive, and I didn’t like the odds. The Emporium hadn’t spent years breeding Unbounded with the combat ability for nothing.

  Ritter hesitated, his jaw clenched. “Okay.” He rambled off words in the less familiar dialect. The old man put his hands together and nodded, rattling more liquid words. Ritter looked back at me helplessly. “I asked him how he’d do it, but I didn’t really get what he said.”

  “I don’t like this.” Jace dug at the ground with a boot. “This is the Emporium we’re talking about. They’re not giving up just because it’s a burial ground. We have to go in and get them.”

  “Give them a few minutes.” I looked up to address the Maya, but he’d disappeared.

  “We could go for them now.” Jace took a couple steps forward.