Then Century’s first metas burst out of the hallway to the right of the registration desk, and he let it all go in that direction.
It blew out in focused pulses no bigger in diameter than my wrist, shooting in streams a foot or two feet in length. It hit the first meta and he lost his head from the force of it. The second guy caught it in the midsection and when the flush cleared, I could see the shirt of the girl behind him through the hole it had made in him as he toppled.
The water drained quickly, Scott directing it into blast after blast at our enemies, sending them scrambling for cover in the hallway. A lot of people were too slow to dodge, and the hall cleared within seconds, leaving a half dozen corpses and a few moaning survivors behind when the water finally finished rushing out.
“Let’s go,” I called and advanced behind the registration desk. “Harper, status report.”
“You’ve got a damned mess,” she said, “that’s the status.”
“Not quite what I was looking for,” I muttered as I sunk behind the desk. There was a bloody mess behind it, whatever Scott had left of the mercs he’d trapped glistening in a puddle on the floor. But there was also a woman, shuddering and breathing heavily, all curled up in a ball. “Miss?” I said, and shook her. “Get up, get out of here.”
“What?” She looked at me sideways, still in the fetal position. “What?”
“Get up, get out of here,” I repeated. “Out the front door, now!”
I must have put enough command in my voice to make her hear it, because she did move, quickly uncurling and standing, her bare legs covered with spots of blood where the skirt she wore hadn’t protected her from the mess made by Scott’s maneuver. She moved, though, moved like her life depended on it.
“Kat,” I said and nodded at her. “Get her out. Harper? The other civilians?”
“Kitchen crew is out,” Harper said. “HRT has got all but one of the maids and they’re moving now. Probably ten seconds to intercept with the last maid. The package is moving up the driveway—”
“Understood,” I said and looked back over the top of the desk at Scott and Reed, who were waiting behind the last of the planters. “Boys, be ready to move.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Reed said with a tight almost-smile.
“Oh, and Reed?” I said, catching his attention. “Let ’em reap the whirlwind.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said again, this time with a grin. He stepped from behind the planter and aimed down the hallway with his hands, thrusting them out from his chest like he was throwing a snake from his upper body. It made a roar as the air around us was sucked into a vortex that rushed down the hallway to the right of the desk. It was loud and looked like a tornado, a wall of grey winds rushing through the confined space. I saw bodies and limbs poke out of the wall of air at various points, and even heard a scream or two over the sound.
“Harper?” I asked.
“Last maid is on the move,” she said. “Kitchen staff is clear, HRT is disengaged, moving back to the treeline for rendezvous and extraction. Black Hawks will be landing in zero-three minutes on the south lawn.”
“Roger that,” I said. “Move out!”
I flung a hand at Reed and Scott and saw them motor, running through the lobby. Just outside I could see a van rolling across the parking lot. I stayed in cover by the registration desk, watching the right-hand hallway as I waited. Scott and Reed dodged out through the broken glass at the front of the lobby as I heard the engine of the van roar just outside.
It crashed through the metal framework that had held the doors just as the last of Reed’s tornado was dying down in the hallway. I could see movement down there, motion as I covered with my pistol. I grabbed one of the bullpup rifles from the floor and held it up, looking through broken optics. I frowned and ripped the sights loose and tossed them aside. I was a meta; I didn’t need fancy sights.
I glanced back to see the agent shaking his head in the van, which was now parked squarely in the middle of the lobby. “Go!” I shouted to him and saw him nod. He opened the van door and bailed, tearing off out the hole he’d just created in the lobby.
I heard movement behind me and raised the rifle in time to splash a lady who came around a corner. I pegged her right in the brain and she dropped in her tracks. I fired again for good measure, just to discourage anyone from coming from that direction. I didn’t need much more time, just enough for the agent to get far enough away that the others could cover him and I could—
I heard the footsteps only a millisecond before I got leveled. The hit to the back of the head was catastrophic, all but scrambling my brain. I brought Wolfe to the front of my consciousness but the next hit was so devastating, landing against the side of my skull, that I forgot everything—that there was a plan, that I was supposed to be doing something, what my name was—everything.
I came to on the floor, staring up at a face that I didn’t recognize, but one that was filled with purest fury and a seething rage. Then I saw another, and another, and another. Men, women, creatures I barely recognized as human. My head was swimming, I was dazed beyond belief—but even still, I recognized the danger.
All metas.
The moment of peace lasted only another second, and then they fell upon me in a frenzy of kicks and punches that drove me gladly into the realm of unconsciousness.
Chapter 47
I opened my eyes to find myself facing a room full of people, and I sighed through bruised and battered ribs. “Ugh,” I managed to get out. “You people.” At least I thought it sounded like that. Wolfe, I said in my mind, and felt him stir to come forth.
“Us people,” Claire said with mild amusement. She was right there, front and center, and I remembered without having to work very hard that I truly despised her. “Us people, who have categorically devastated you.”
I felt my swollen lips subside a bit and the pain began to disappear. I pulled Wolfe back from healing me. I needed to be functional, but having them see me go from wounded and beaten to flawless in seconds would probably tip them off that some things were seriously amiss. Then I remembered that Claire had seen me fly, and I realized she probably had at least an inkling of what I was capable of at this point. Clearly not a full understanding, or I’d already be dead.
I could work with that.
“I wouldn’t go so far as ‘devastated,’” I said, a little cocky, putting a slur into it. “But you certainly did just outnumber me and deliver a beating. Oh, yes, you’re all very impressive at a hundred-to-one.”
“We don’t have a hundred anymore,” Claire said, and she sounded snippy. There were a lot of angry faces behind her. “You saw to that.”
“Mmmhmmm,” I said. I walked back the cockiness a little bit on this one. I could have said so much worse; admire my restraint.
A guy came down into the room, which was a sort of big conference room, like something you’d see in the United Nations if they held UN meetings in a seventies-era resort in the Midwest. He had a couple people following him and wore a battered suit that looked like it had been through at least twelve ringers. He paused just in front of Claire, and she looked at him.
“S—s—stop it,” he said. “I don’t like when you r—r—read my mind!” he said.
“You must be Griswold,” I said, staring him down. He looked up at me in surprise.
“How did you know that?” Claire asked, remarkably composed, though I could tell there were hints of fury peeking through her expression.
“R—r—read her mind,” Griswold said, stepping closer to me.
“I can’t,” Claire said, turning away from me. “Zollers is blocking everything.”
“But he’s gone,” Griswold said, shaking his head, eyes tracing her path as she took a short—and I mean short—walk across the room in front of me. She paced in front of her minions. “The Agency chopper t—took off without her, and with the whole staff—”
“I guess you guys will have to make do without turndown service,” I cracked.
Claire looked back at me, and her annoyance turned to a poisonous smile. “Just so you’re not left thinking wise-assing us will get you something … it won’t. We disarmed your bomb already.” She held her palms up. “Ooooh. Planning to blow us all up?” Her expression went flat. “I believe the kids call that ‘epic fail’ nowadays.”
“That’s so yesterday,” I shot back, sounding like the teenager I still was. “But I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
“Fine, yesterday, uh huh,” she said, taking pains to cover her annoyance. I could see it anyway, just creeping out at the corners of her eyes. “Let me tell you what’s today—I don’t need you alive for very long.”
“Then kill me,” I said.
“Not yet.” There was a gleam of triumph in the eyes as she said it. “And before you get any ideas about escaping using those Wolfe-powers of yours, be aware that we outnumber you so badly that you’ll have your brains dashed out quicker than you can summon the will to stitch your skull back together. And believe me, plenty of us here would be glad to do that.”
“So I’m bait?” I asked. I glanced around the room, took the temperature. They were angry. “For what?”
She laughed like I was an idiot. “Sovereign, of course. We just have to wait for him to come save you.”
I blinked. “You want to lure him here? Why?” My head swiveled, looking for some explanation in the crowd’s faces. There wasn’t one, but I caught some self-satisfaction breaking through the fury. “There are easier ways to commit suicide.”
“Let’s just say we’re ready for him,” Claire said with a certain amount of satisfaction.
“He’s otherwise occupied right now,” I said, and tested my bonds. That only took a second, and I was satisfied that strength alone was not going to get me out of this.
“Because he surrendered and you have him bound up in chains?” Claire rolled her eyes. “Please. If he’s not already roaring his way here, he’ll be along as soon as your crew of merry morons informs your headquarters that your plan went sour. He can’t possibly resist the opportunity to ingratiate himself to you by saving you when you’re in distress.”
I felt my skin crawl at that one, and I’m pretty sure I made a face. “Ugh.”
Claire smiled at me. “What’s the matter? Still resisting your inevitable fate? You could do worse.”
“Yeah, like Weissman,” I said, playing a hunch. Her face went dark immediately, fury descending on her as though a curtain were closed over her expression. “Ooh, looks like I hit a soft spot. And this time I don’t even have a broken leg to play with—”
She took two steps forward and smacked me one right across the face. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt, but I’d been hit worse. I smiled a bloody smile at her and she hit me again, a little harder this time. I stopped the smile because I was just pissed now, and I gave her the full venom of my eyes as I rolled my head back around.
“You can look at me like that all you want,” she said, voice low. “You look because you’re impotent to act.”
“I’m not technically capable of impotence,” I said.
“You talk the best game,” she said, smarmy and vicious at the same time, “but you are constantly in over your head. You pick fights you can’t win, and when luck comes to your rescue, you add a notch to your belt and think you’re the best.” She snorted. “You’re nothing, little girl. Your luck is gone. And your boyfriend—when he comes to rescue you, which should be soon—he’s gonna die.”
“You call Sovereign my boyfriend again, I’ll kill you.” I let that loose with all my anger. All of it. People in the front row took a step back and everything. I’ve got a good resting bitch face, that’s no secret. But when I put my game face on, even people who have never met me before apparently take notice.
“You’re going to kill me?” Claire said, and shook her head, letting out a little laugh that let her show just how pitiful she thought I was. “Sweetie, you are tied up to the point you can’t move. Your friends just ran—just left you behind, and you’re surrounded by the most powerful people in the world.” She leaned down, just a little, to look me in the eye. “So … why don’t you tell me, short of Sovereign coming and trying to save you, little princess—how you’re gonna … kill me?” She let that little snorting laugh again. “Poor little girl, all alone.” She turned her back on me.
“Hey, Claire,” I said, and I could hear my voice change. A thrum of nervousness ran through the crowd. “A girl like me doesn’t wait for some boy to come save her. And for the record—I was gonna kill you even if you didn’t call Sovereign my boyfriend again. Harper?”
Claire turned slowly to me. “Who the hell is Harper?”
“The chopper has reached minimum safe distance,” Harper replied in my ear. “You are good to go.”
Claire straightened. “I heard that. Minimum safe distance applies to a bomb, sweetie. We broke your bomb.” She smiled, and I knew it was a taunt. “It got vaporized into atoms, just to be sure. Stupid move, and we saw it coming. It’s not like you could beat us in a fair fight, yourself, so—” She shrugged. “It was predictable. I can’t believe you thought we’d fall for it.”
“Oh, but you did,” I said, and I giggled. “You did fall for it, you lecturing, bloviating, fatass evil overlord wannabe. You fell for it like it was an all-you-can-eat buffet table wheeled right into the middle of your jerk-off circle.” My skin felt hot, and suddenly the chains that had bound me so tight melted away under the heat of flame. “You’re a fucking moron, Claire.” I reached out and grabbed her by the neck, ripping her off her feet and pulling her over to look me straight in the eyes. “I didn’t need to sneak a bomb into the middle of your meeting. Because,” I chortled again, looking at the sea of horror in the eyes surrounding me, and my voice dropped low as I whispered to her, looking her in the eyes—
“I am the bomb.”
I exploded with the force of Aleksandr Gavrikov, and I watched Claire’s horrified expression melt as a wave of flame swept off my skin and consumed the world around me.
Chapter 48
I coughed and realized I was naked, lying in a hole in the earth. I reached out and felt the ground around me, smooth as glass under my fingertips. My eyes rolled right, then left, assessing the crater I was in. It was a few feet deep, and a cloud of smoke hung over me, turning the sky a grey darker than any thunder clouds I’d ever seen.
Things had gotten hazy after the explosion, which was not exactly a surprise. “Are you there, Aleksandr?” I asked.
Still here, he came back. And it was a very fine display of my abilities, I must say.
“Thank you,” I said, coughing. The air hung with an acrid smell. “I think we got ’em.”
“You got ’em,” came a voice from above me. I looked up to see Sovereign part the clouds as he came through, appearing out of the fog like a ship coming into view on a dark night. He still wore chains around his hands, and his body was shrouded with a little white dust that looked like he’d probably gone through the roof of my quarters in the Agency dorm. “I did a quick sweep once the explosion died down, and it’s …” He shook his head. “You killed ’em.”
“How far out did the explosion travel?” I asked, staring at him.
He kept his eyes off mine and, indeed, off me altogether. I realized again, rather sharply, that I was naked and scrambled against the glassy ground like I could find some sand to cover up with. That didn’t work, though. “Not too far,” he said, voice higher than usual as he stared out into the cloud. “A couple miles, maybe more.”
“Good,” I said, nodding as I struggled to cover myself with just my hands. “Uhm … could you maybe make yourself useful and find me some clothes?” I hated to ask, but I hated to be naked in front of him even more.
“Right. Sure,” he said and disappeared into the smoke without another word. He did glance back, though, and I caught him doing it. He looked a little embarrassed before he vanished into the haze.
&nb
sp; I sighed and lay back down on the glassy ground. I suspected I could stand and walk, but I’d be exposing my naked ass in order to keep everything else covered and I really didn’t feel like I had the body of a swimsuit model, able to pull off a pose like that, so I just stayed hunkered down until he came back a few minutes later.
“Here you go,” he said, and tossed a cloth bundle to me before turning away to avert his eyes. “Found it on a clothesline a few miles from here.”
“Nice,” I said, and got to a crouch. It was a dress, a long one, not low-cut, thankfully, a size or two too large and meant for a woman much taller than me. I still put it on, slipping into it as quickly as I could. I stood, felt it billow in the shoulders and adjusted it as best I could. It still dragged against the glassed crater. “Thank you,” I said, a little grudgingly as I stood.
“No problem,” he said, and I heard the rattle of his chains as he turned back around. “I, uh … guess you didn’t need my help after all.”
I kept my eyes off of him as I started to climb my way out of the crater. I didn’t want to fly because—well, I was standing on a glassy, reflective surface and I had no underwear on beneath my dress. I’d heard of upskirt videos, and so I kept my legs very, very close together as I took small steps up to the lip of the crater.
The ground was blackened all the way to the tree line. Only hints of the Terramara resort remained, a few walls here and there, the tallest of which reached to five feet, maybe. The forest’s edge sported trees that were still burning, any hint of leaves or greenery gone. “Damn,” I whispered.
“Really something, isn’t it?” Sovereign said, shaking his head. He was hanging in the air just a little above me. “Having the power of flame like that at your fingertips? I’ve never used mine quite that way, but …” He let out a sharp exhalation. “It’s like hell on earth.”
Remember.
I stared out on the burnt ground in front of me and remembered I was in a different place, a different time. I stood at the edge of the crater and stared out at the wasteland I’d created beyond.
Power Page 22
