The Cure

by Teyla Branton

  “The senator,” Ritter said. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait. What about Tom?”

  He was lying motionless where I’d left him on the stone floor, horror registering on his face as he gaped at Justine. Ritter grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him. “Where’s Benito?”

  Tom didn’t even look in his direction, his gaze still fixed on the blood, pumping over the stone.

  “Tell me!” Ritter shook him again. “Or I’ll kill you right now.”

  Tom managed to tear his eyes away from Justine. “Near the children. Edgel had your guy replace one of the teachers. But you’re already too late. Way too late.” Wild laughter bubbled up from his throat, dying abruptly as he looked past us again to Justine.

  Ritter drew back his fist and punched hard. Tom’s eyes rolled up in his head. Dropping him, Ritter grabbed at his mic. “Did you hear that everyone? The children’s teacher. Get to the teacher!” As he spoke, he swept up his weapons and began pulling me toward the stairs. “We’ll come back for them later.”

  I grabbed the machete and the scabbard lying on the stones near the spilled wine. There was surprisingly little blood on the blade, and I swiped it once over Justine’s tablecloth before shoving it into the scabbard and tying it on.

  We ran from the ruins, jumping over vines and brush and skirting piles of stone. After only a few minutes, my breath choked in my throat and my step slowed. “Go on ahead,” I panted. With his ability, Ritter could run much faster without me along.

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “Yes, you are.” Then I remembered. “Open your mind. I can use your ability.”

  That he didn’t question how showed his trust, which almost made me sit down right there and have a good cry. I’d told myself repeatedly that I didn’t really know him, that our time together had been too short, but I knew him better than I thought. Or part of me did. The connection in our minds ran deep.

  I reached out to him, channeling his ability. Together we ran. Trees rushed by so fast that my stomach threatened to heave. In the next instant euphoria settled in. I felt powerful. I knew where to place my feet without looking. I knew exactly how high to jump. I brought out the machete and used it to slice through the foliage blocking my path.

  If I could use the combat ability, could I use the talents of others as well? The thought was both frightening and intoxicating.

  We reached the cleared part of the ruins and heard Senator Bellar’s voice over a loudspeaker, though it was still far enough away that the words were garbled. We continued to run, my mind linked to his. He jumped over a backpack someone had set on the ground, and it seemed as if I were the one jumping. Several people stopped and stared, but they were blurs, hardly registering on my consciousness. I slid the machete back into the scabbard.

  “Three teachers are talking to the children,” Jace’s voice said in Ritter’s earbud. “They’re standing in front of them. All wearing masks. Which one is he?”

  “He won’t be talking,” Ritter said. “He doesn’t know Mayan.”

  Dimitri answered. “Well, they’re all talking. I doubt these children use the same Mayan dialect. It’s probably Spanish.”

  “Grab them all,” Ritter barked. “The senator’s men will probably hold off shooting since you’re near children.”

  “I’m not quite in range.” Jace sounded out of breath. “Got a little hung up with one of their guys. But I’m almost there.”

  “I’m close,” Keene said, but the next minute he swore. “Stupid policemen pulled their guns on me. Going to take longer than I thought. The senator must have told them I was a danger. Idiot.”

  “I see them,” Mari’s voice crackled with static. “I’m shift—” Her voice cut out on the last word.

  Ritter and I rounded a stone building, and a crowd of people came into sight. Halfway up a temple, the senator stood holding a microphone attached to a portable speaker. At his side was solid, stern-looking woman with graying hair. The Maya children sat in several rows along the stairs below them, and farther down three Maya adults in native dress stood several stairs above the crowd.

  “Out of the way, out of the way!” Ritter shouted brandishing his rifle. The back of the crowd parted. A child cried out and a woman screamed.

  One of the teachers reached for something under his cloak. Mari appeared beside him, jumping onto his back, her arms around his throat. The crowd at the front gasped and then began to clap, thinking it was part of the program. The man, with Mari on his back, fell down the stairs, pinning her beneath him. Another teacher jumped down the stairs to help, while the third reached for something in a canvass bag on the step next to him.

  I knew before I saw it that it was an automatic rifle with enough bullets in the magazine to kill half the crowd. The mask fell away as the gun came out. It was Benito, though I almost didn’t recognize him. His face was covered in dark bruises and ugly red gashes. He hadn’t given in to Justine easily in the end. Like us he wore an earpiece. His eyes were wild, frantic. More shouts from the crowd as people began to flee.

  We weren’t going to make it. The only way was to shoot. Ritter had his gun up, but two men stumbled into him. He shoved them aside. I felt his frustration. Impossible to shoot Benito without wounding one of the children, but taking time to aim meant more people who would die under Benito’s gun.

  I reached out with my mind, searching for the life force that was Benito’s. I knew it well enough, as I’d been blocking his thoughts for the past few days. There, I had it. “Kill, kill, kill ’em all.” The words came through his earpiece. “Just like you planned.”

  Benito gave a shout of glee. Finalmente, he thought. Beginning with that stupid windbag with the microphone and that hag next to him. I didn’t understand the Spanish words but the images were clear, his anticipation palpable.

  Stop! I pushed out as hard as I could, reaching deeper. Focusing on his hand. Forcing it still. Benito, you will stop! I shoved harder, felt something shatter in my mind. White-hot agony. I was drowning, but I held on.

  Benito paused, his face grimacing with effort. In his mind I felt his fingers start to squeeze the trigger. In the next minute, Jace reached him, ripped the gun from his hands, and bashed him in the face with his elbow. Benito sprawled on the stairs.

  Long enough, I thought.

  Then I was falling, falling. I never seemed to reach the bottom. Hands grabbed me. “I got you,” Ritter said.

  Blackness filled my sight. I was blind.

  “Stop them!” someone yelled into a microphone.

  “No, you idiot! They just saved you!” Keene’s voice from nearby, so the first must have been the senator.

  A gunshot cracked through the air. The senator cried out, and people around us fled, screaming. Ritter slung me over his shoulder.

  “Help me get the senator inside!” someone shouted. “And find where that shot came from.” Had to be the bodyguard, given the American accent.

  The Emporium must have fired the shot, trying to make the best of a situation gone wrong. I couldn’t see how badly the senator was wounded or if the shooter might have another clear shot, but for the first to have missed, the shooter would have to be at a significant distance. Even so, I doubted it was Edgel or anyone gifted with combat.

  More frantic shouts in Spanish, sounding like orders, but I didn’t understand the meaning. Nor had my vision cleared so I could see who spoke. I couldn’t even sense the life forces of the people around us. Or feel the connection that had been open between me and Ritter.

  “Move!” Ritter barked. “Into the jungle!”

  My head banged into his back as he ran, sending more white flashes through the darkness.

  “No! The entrance!” Dimitri countered. “Cort’s there. He’s got the Pinz.”

  Ritter changed directions. “Mari, shift over there. Distract them at the gate. Be careful. The Emporium has watchers there. Back her up, Jace. Give Benito to Dimitri.”

  I couldn’t see anything besides th
e occasional searing flash of white, but I knew Ritter was speaking to Mari through his mic, and I could imagine her appearing at the gate and distracting everyone there long enough for Jace to clear the path with a few well-placed punches.

  More screams and shouting as we joined the crowd leaving the park. “There!” Ritter picked up speed and my head banged harder. I’d always appreciated Ritter’s well-muscled back, but this was ridiculous.

  The next thing I knew I was lying in the Pinz with something nasty shoved under my nose. I jerked my head away.

  “Sorry, Erin,” Dimitri said. “But we may need you awake. We barely got out of that park. We seem to have dodged the Emporium agents, but the local authorities are hot on our tail.”

  My head felt like someone had squeezed it between a vise, but I pushed myself to a seated position on the hard bench, my mind struggling to make sense of the information sent by my eyes. At least they were working again, though the images were blurry and distorted.

  Jace and Ritter hunched near the back, rifles drawn, Mari tying Benito’s hands. He lay face down on the other bench, his exposed flesh looking worse than I remembered from the park. Ground beef came to mind.

  Dimitri tossed her something I couldn’t see. “Better give him this. Can’t take any chances until that drug wears off.”

  She made a face. “I don’t know how to give shots.”

  “Figure it out,” Dimitri said. “I have to help Cort. He looks ready to pass out. After I take care of him, I’ll see what I can do to counter the effects of the drug, but I don’t know how successful I’ll be with the supplies at hand. Probably better to keep him unconscious.”

  I glanced up front to see Cort at the wheel. His face was flushed with determination, but the blood gushing down his neck didn’t look promising.

  “I’ll give the shot.” I crawled over our equipment, one knee banging into a gas can that didn’t budge. Full, I thought. Cort had been busy. No wonder he looked so terrible.

  I took the needle from Mari and eased it into Benito’s arm, more by feel than anything else. If he’d been Unbounded and unconscious, I wouldn’t have taken such care, but he’d feel the injection site when he awoke, unlike an Unbounded whose body would heal the area before he regained consciousness.

  Mari’s face zigzagged in front of me, and I shut my eyes. “Is everyone okay? What about the senator?”

  “He was hit in the thigh,” Mari told me. “He should be fine, if they get him medical attention fast enough. His sister will probably take care of him. Everyone else is okay.” Her voice lowered as she added, “Well, I don’t know about Keene. He wouldn’t come with us. I heard him say something about going after his brother. I think he meant Tom.”

  I sighed. “I shouldn’t have told him.”

  “No. You did the right thing.” Mari squeezed my shoulder.

  But I hadn’t really. Not in everything. I’d had the opportunity to rid the Renegades of a woman who had brought repeated damage to us over centuries, but I’d selfishly hesitated when finishing the deed or letting Ritter finish it. Now Justine’s people would dump her in a tub full of their version of curequick and her neck would heal or her head would regrow. She’d be the same as before—every bit as conniving and amoral. That I wouldn’t have made it to Benito in time to stop him if I’d dealt with Justine didn’t matter. Anything she did in the future, any lives she took, the responsibility would be mine.

  Mine and Ritter’s. How did he feel about letting her go?

  “We can’t leave Keene,” I said.

  “Jace already tried to go back for him when you were out, but Ritter wouldn’t let him. Said his first duty was to protect us.” Mari leaned closer and I cracked my eyes just a little to see her expression. “Right now we’re trying to get back to Chris and the plane. Cort’s plane is closer, but he’s in no condition to fly after driving around. You should have seen him. When Dimitri gave him the signal, he crashed through a couple of police cars to pick us up.”

  “Sorry I missed it.” It was hard not to appreciate her enthusiasm.

  I spent much of the three-hour trip back through the jungle dozing. Jace was driving again, while Ritter stood guard and Dimitri took care of his patients, including me. He injected Cort with more curequick and a sedative. No one mentioned Keene, but I worried about him every time I awoke, and I knew the others worried, too.

  I also thought about what I’d done at the park. Preventing Benito from firing had taken great effort, but I had succeeded in controlling him with my thoughts. That meant it was only a matter of time and practice until I could master the ability. Ava had been right all along about my talent being strong. No wonder Delia from the Emporium wanted to keep me her little secret until she could use me as a pawn in her war. How many other minds had she messed with besides Tom’s in order to keep that secret? It didn’t really matter, because I was going to be ready for her when we did meet again.

  Chris met us at the airport. He had a split lip and a bruise on his cheek, but he was in good spirits. “Had a little run-in with some local bandits. Tried to steal our plane. Apparently, they were upset over some deal they made with the owners here. Not sure exactly what kind of deal, but some of their guys died, so they wanted retribution—or our plane for payment. We managed to hold them off.” He cracked a grin. “I did have to take the airport owner’s sister hostage to make him fight the bandits with me, but it all worked out.”

  “You’ll have to tell us all about it,” I said, linking my arm around his neck so he could help me into the plane. What was it with my brothers and trouble? I’d never dare leave them alone again.

  Benito stirred as Ritter settled him into one of the bunks in the back of the plane. “No,” he moaned, pushing our hands away.

  “It’s okay, Benito.” I tucked a blanket around him. “We stopped you in time. You didn’t hurt anyone.”

  “I didn’t?” The words came out a sob. One eye fluttered open, the other too swollen to even crack. “So you got the drive?”

  I sighed. “I didn’t see the drive, and Justine destroyed the information on her laptop.” We didn’t even have the laptop to see if Stella could retrieve the information, but I didn’t feel like discussing that with him or anyone else.

  “I have eet.”

  “You’re hungry?” Was it his accent? Or was my brain still playing tricks?

  “I have it,” he emphasized. “They were punchin’ me and kickin’ me, and I was there on the floor anyway, so I took the drive from the laptop. Look in my shoe.”

  I stared at him. “You have the research?” My voice rose loud enough that the others stopped what they were doing and hurried over.

  “My shoe.” He moved his foot and groaned.

  I pulled off the shoe as the others crowded around, spilling a blue thumb drive onto the thin mattress. I gave a disbelieving laugh as I swept it up. I couldn’t imagine how he’d had the courage and presence of mind to take it, bloodied and half dead as he was. “Oh, Benito,” I said, stroking his bruised forehead. “You’re a hero just like your grandfather. He would be so proud of you. I know I am.”

  “So you trust me now?” His ruined face twisted in a gruesome attempt at a smile.

  “Yes, I do.” I had from the moment he hit Justine over the head with that rock. “You’ve more than proven yourself. This is going to help a lot of people.” One in particular.

  I met Ritter’s eyes and saw the same relief I was experiencing. He turned and strode down the aisle. “Let’s take off, Chris. Now. Every minute we waste is a minute the Emporium might show up to stop us.”

  Spirits rose as Chris guided the plane into the air. We hadn’t saved the lives of the two scientists, and we didn’t know what had happened to Keene, but our mission was no longer an utter failure. We had brought back the cure for Bronson. We hadn’t let Stella down.

  I sat next to Ritter, my aching head resting on his arm. “You still worried about Keene?” he asked me.

  I couldn’t tell if there was a
hidden innuendo in the question, if he was really asking whether I cared for Keene as a man, but I chose to take the comment at face value. “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. I think I’m more worried about how mad Cort’s going to be when he wakes up and realizes Keene didn’t come back with us. He’ll blame me for telling him about Tom. And then there’s Justine. What about her?” I had to say the words. Would saving her stand between us every bit as much as killing her would have?

  Ritter stared at me for several long seconds. “There’s something you should know. Keene wanted to go back for Tom, but that’s not the only reason I let him.”

  I stared at him. “He asked permission?”

  “Not exactly. You know how he is. But when I knew he was going back, I ordered him to get Justine. We’ll have to wait to see if he succeeds.”

  “If he doesn’t, it’s you Cort will be mad at.”

  He shook his head. “I know, but I had to make a decision based on the entire picture. Keene’s good at what he does, and for what it’s worth, I don’t believe they’ll kill Tihalt’s son.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but in the headiness of the moment, I would let myself believe.

  Ritter closed the gap between us. “I never told you thanks,” he whispered in my ear, his breath spreading delicious heat through my body.

  “For what?”

  “Watering my plant while I was gone.”

  “I noticed you’d brought it from the palace. I should have let it die.”

  He grinned. “But you didn’t.”

  No, I hadn’t, and of all the personal things he could have rescued, he’d chosen that stupid plant. Both things probably said a lot about us, but I didn’t care what.

  So much left to say. So much to decide. Relationships were never simple for Unbounded. Yet for the moment none of it mattered. It was enough to feel Ritter close. I’d deal with the rest later.