“You bitch,” he said before backhanding me across the face. “How did that feel?”
I tasted the blood and spit it out…on his boot.
“That’s just it, I didn’t feel it,” I said. ““But I’m sure you must hear that a lot.”
More laughter erupted from the sides as his face turned several shades of crimson. He pulled his gun, stopping the laughter.
“Whoa, Thomas, what the fuck?” the Enforcer on my left said. “Put that thing down.”
“Shut it, Rodriguez,” Thomas said as he clenched his teeth. “You heard her, she wants to feel it. I’m going to make sure she does.”
The Enforcer on my right pulled his weapon. “Holster your firearm, Thomas.”
I reached for my power. If this didn’t work, I was going to be in the middle of a close-quarters firefight while chained to a railing. The chances of survival were close to nil.
Not dying here.
I grabbed the crystal and felt the flow. It was much less than my normal level, but I was trained not to rely on my ability. I melted the chain between the inhibitors, the only thing that wasn’t warded, and slammed an elbow into the face of the Enforcer on my right, broke his nose and grabbed his gun. Thomas fired. The bullet blew through my shoulder and spun me. I used the momentum and slammed a boot in his throat in response, crushing his larynx. My arm was still attached to my body, which meant they were using regular rounds, not void. That was careless and insulting. Rodriguez was still playing catch-up when I introduced his head to the gun in my hand. He crumpled on the floor, unconscious.
I let my power flow to the wound and directed most of my energy to healing. My body had taken too much damage, and it was letting me know. My head spun for a few seconds as I re-oriented. I needed food and sleep.
“You killed him,” broken nose said looking at Thomas. “Wait, how did you use your ability? You have inhibitors on.”
Thomas lay on the floor, staring into nothingness. The EDV kept rolling along, jostling us.
“The chain must have been weak—” I started.
“You’ve gone dark,” he said, scuttling back away from me. “The Enclave will stop you.”
I didn’t feel like explaining about the crystal. He wouldn’t believe me if I did. A mystic should not be able to use their ability while wearing void inhibitors, unless they went dark.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Mason,” he mumbled through a bloody face.
“I need you to unlock my kit,” I said. “Can you do that, Mason?”
He looked at the gun in my hand, his gun, and nodded. He opened the compartment and I grabbed my weapons and trench coat. Mason sat there looking at Thomas. He was heading into shock and I needed the EDV opened.
“I didn’t have a choice, Mason, hey—” I said and snapped my fingers. “I need you to unlock the EDV.”
“Can’t do that,” he said. “Release is on the other side of that wall with the driver.”
He pointed behind me. The partition was covered in wards. Even without the inhibitors, I would have a hard time getting through it. Now I knew why they put grunts in here and not full Enforcers. I was in a mobile cell. I felt the power draining from me. The charge in the crystal was running out. I was trapped.
“Doesn’t look like you are going anywhere,” Mason said. “Want my advice?”
“Not really,” I said as I tried to decipher the wards on the wall.
“I saw your rounds,” he said. “You use void tens. You may as well eat one of those before Julius finds this mess.”
“I’m going to pass on that sage advice, but thanks.”
I couldn’t have him trying to do something stupid while I figured a way out. I approached him and he didn’t avert his gaze.
“Make it fast,” he said.
“Oh, I will,” I said. “You ready?”
He nodded and closed his eyes. I let some of my power flow into my stick and tapped him across the temple, knocking him out. The crystal was practically empty.
“Really, you expected me to just finish you?” I said to his unconscious form. I fieldstripped their weapons and made sure the pieces were scattered before I turned back to deciphering the wards. I needed to get to the driver and saw no way of doing it.
We had to be nearing the exit of the tunnel. I estimated maybe a few more minutes, when the EDV crashed to a stop and sent me flying into the partition. Judging from the sounds around us, we were still in the tunnel.
What did we hit?
I pulled my guns and waited. I only heard one set of footsteps, some muffled speaking and then the EDV rocked sideways and slammed into the wall along with my head. My vision was tunneling in. The rear hatch started rising and I started firing.
“Goddammit, Ava, stop shooting!” I recognized that voice.
It was Ross.
NINE
“STOP SHOOTING!” HE yelled. “Or I start shooting back.”
I stopped shooting. I heard him but I couldn’t believe it. The hatch kept rising and revealed a beautiful sight. The Rhino was sitting in the tunnel behind the EDV. Squat, angry, and rumbling. I holstered my guns and stumbled out of the truck. Ross caught me before I faceplanted.
“Slow down,” he said. “You’re hurt.””
“What…how did you find me?” I slurred. “Need……rest.”
“We need to get you out of here.”
He carried me to the Rhino and put me in the back seat. We drove around the EDV and headed into Manhattan. He threw a bottle of liquid at me.
“Drink that,” he said. “Should snap you right back.”
I drank the bitter reddish-brown liquid and felt my heart begin to race. If caffeine and adrenaline had a child, it would be this foul concoction that Ross had created.
“Still terrible,” I said. “You never told me what was in this.”
“You don’t want to know,” he said. “Go Juice——never fails to work. Feel better?”
He was right. Whatever he put in his mixture from hell worked. I was feeling almost normal except that I couldn’t access my power.
“I need to get these off,” I said, showing him the inhibitors. “Can you take me to Circe?”
We were headed down the East River Drive. He pulled over to the shoulder and stopped the Rhino.
“Get out,” he said. “Now.”
He stepped out of the Rhino and walked over to the side. He had drawn his gun.
What the hell?
“This is not my idea of a rescue—” I began.
“Before I help you, I need to ask you a question,” he said.
“Ross, I don’t have time—”
“I’m only going to ask you once,” he said. His voice cut through the night with menace, stopping me. “If you lie to me, I will drop you right here and bury you so deep it will take a year to find your body.”
I had no way of fighting him. His earth ability made him feared in the MID, and I had inhibitors on. He could crush me with a thought if he wanted to.
“Ask,” I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling.
“Did you kill those two mystics?”
I looked him in the eyes. They had gone flat. He was ready to kill me. We had both saved each other’s lives enough times to know that look.
“No, I didn’t,” I said, not letting my eyes waver away from his. “But I’m going to find out who did and make sure he burns.”
He holstered his gun and stepped close. He towered over me and looked down into my eyes.
“I had to make sure,” he said. “Ghost has gone missing and people are looking for Circe. When you mentioned her name…well, it seemed off.”
I nodded. “I need to go see her. She may have information about who is doing this.”
He put the keys to the Rhino in my hand, then headed over to the passenger side.
“You drive. That thing has a fat ass and drives a like a lazy truck.”
I stood there alone for a second and let out the breath I had been
holding. I got into the Rhino and continued down the East River Drive.
“How did you get the Rhino?” I asked. “PTF impounded it at Buck’s.””
“Moira requisitioned it and told me to find you,” he said. “Seems to think you are being targeted.”
“Moira,” I said and shook my head. “Last we spoke, she threatened me with a cleansing.”
He nodded. “She had to,” he said. “She thinks the MID is compromised.”
“Compromised how?” I asked.
“North Enclave is involved somehow, and she isn’t taking any chances,” he replied. “MID can’t be seen helping a wanted mystic—that would be you.”
I got off the East River Drive on 23rd Street and cut across to the West Side Drive.
“How did you find me?”
“You didn’t make the meet and then Moira told me about Queens,” he said. “Enforcers always take the tunnel to transport mystics to the Tombs.”
“The Tombs?” I asked. “I thought we were going to the South Enclave?”
He shook his head. “Tombs, the place where they make you disappear.”
The Tombs didn’t officially exist. It was an underground prison run by the Enforcers. If half the rumors about it were true, I was never going to leave them alive.
I shuddered at the thought.
“Thanks,” I said. “You’re risking everything by doing this. Anyone else know about you?”
He gave a brief smile. “It’s what we do,” he said. “We were partners and I owe you, probably why Moira asked me.”
“And the rest of the MID?” I asked. “What do they think?”
“Some think you need to go down,” he said, and I winced. “But others, a few, think you’re being played. No one likes the MID.”
“True,” I said. “But this goes beyond being played. This bastard has my uncle.”
“Shit, not good,” he said. “How do we find him?”
“First, I need to get these bracelets off,” I said, waving an inhibitor at him. “I need to see Circe.”
TEN
I DIDN’T SEE the Shadow until it was too late. It rammed into us and forced me off the road. I hit a few parked cars and came to a stop. It drove ahead of us, swerved to block our path, and stopped. Two Enforcers exited the vehicle, guns drawn. These weren’t grunts. According to the address I had, we were about a mile away from Circe.
“Who gave you this info on Circe?” Ross asked. “Because this is not a coincidence.”
“Rafe,” I said. “He said it was good.”
He cursed under his breath as he gave me the stare. It was the stare he would give me whenever he thought I was being monumentally naïve. It was a cross between being bug-eyed and looking constipated.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I said. “It’s disturbing.””
“He sold you out, Ava,” he said. “The guy’s a mercenary. You know this.”
“He’s a resource and a good one,” I said. “I trust him.””
“You what?” he said in disbelief. “You don’t trust anyone, except Sebastian.”
“Because no one has earned it,” I said. “I may not trust Rafe but his intel is solid. I trust that.”
“And that’s the problem,” he said. “How do you think they knew we were here?”
“Calibrators,” I said. “Enforcers must have gotten better tech, or this one was just close.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “You are a mystery to me sometimes,” he said, shaking his head.
“No choice now,” I said. “Let’s deal with the Enforcers. If Rafe sold me out, I will deal with him.”
“If you can find him,” he shot back. “You good?”
“I can’t use my ability,” I said. “Or get shot.””
“Since when has that ever stopped you?” he answered. “It’s not like I go around wanting to get shot, you know, c’mon.”
“Sometimes I have my doubts,” I said. “Can we do this without killing them?”
“Use your sticks, and I’ll aim low,” he said. “Their suits are warded so it will be tough to stop them using my ability, but I can slow them down.”
Watching an Earth Mystic in action was a fearsome thing. Ross opened the door and jumped out of the Rhino. Chunks of asphalt hovered around him. The Enforcers wore warded Kevlar polymer bodysuits. It protected them against small-arms fire and prevented mystics from using abilities directly on their bodies. It didn’t protect them from conventional attacks or the impact of my sticks.
They opened fire on Ross. He ducked behind the Rhino. I saw him step back and some of the chunks fell to the ground. One of the Enforcers was a Void Mystic.
“One’s a null,” he said. “Watch yourself.””
Ross launched the barrage of asphalt with a gesture. The Enforcers would try to close the distance since the null ability worked best with proximity. The chunks of street bombarded the Enforcers. While they were distracted, I climbed on the Rhino and closed the distance, jumping the last few feet from its hood.
I landed on the Enforcer closest to me and slammed my sticks down on his collarbone. I heard one crack and he dropped his gun. I ducked under a jagged piece of rock that crashed into his chest and worked my way down his legs with my sticks, ending at his knees. His knees gave way and he fell forward on his face, screaming in pain. I choked him out until he fell unconscious. Another barrage of asphalt flew over me but fell short of the second Enforcer. He was in a flow-state, allowing his power to expand.
I swung through the open doors of the Shadow feet-first and double kicked him in the chest. He flew back but recovered fast. This one was trained. He focused his gaze on me and I could feel the waves of energy claw at me. I fell to the ground and dropped my sticks. I saw him smile as he approached me.
“You should have stayed in the truck,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy tearing you apart.”
Void attacks were the most horrific of the five disciplines. They focused on the nothingness within you and let that expand until you cease to exist. For the attack to work, they needed to be in contact. Once he started, my cells would disintegrate, breaking down into their component parts until nothing remained.
He stepped close now and grabbed my hair. It was one of the reasons I kept a short, almost boyish cut. I never gave my opponents an advantage, if I could help it. I grabbed the sticks and brought them up in an arc, breaking his grip. I pulled my head free as I followed the sticks with an elbow to the groin. He fell to the ground, holding his crotch and keening. Ross came around the Shadow and grimaced.
“What did you do?” Ross asked. “You shot him in the crotch? That’s just cruel and unusual.”
“Does it look like I shot him?” I asked. “Do you see any blood?””
“Hurts just looking at him,” he said. “He didn’t notice?””
I crouched down next to the Enforcer, who would walk funnily for the next few days, and shook an inhibitor in his face. The realization dawned on him and he groaned even more. A bullet would have finished me.
“How did you find us?” I asked. “How did you know we were here?”
“Calibrators,” he answered through clenched teeth. Sweat had formed on his brow and was cascading down his face. “We triangulated from the truck and traced you here.””
I gave Ross a smug look. “I told you I could trust my resource.”
“Doesn’t mean anything,” Ross said. “Still don’’t trust him. Wrap this up, and we need to move.”
I sheathed my sticks. I didn’t want to kill the Enforcer so I used a knife-hand across his temple. I had to hit him harder than if I had used my power plus the stick. He fell to the side, unconscious and blissfully quiet. I took satisfaction in knowing he would wake up with one killer headache.
“Out of power?” Ross asked. “Wait, how do you have any power? Inhibitors should be preventing that.”
His eyes narrowed as he stepped closer. He grabbed one of my wrists and looked at the inhibitors. They were still intact.
“Have you gone—” he started.
“No, I haven’t gone dark,” I said quickly. “Buck gave me this.””
I pulled the chain around my neck and showed him the obsidian crystal.
“A Black Heart?” he asked. “Where did Buck get his hands on one of those?”
“You know about these?” I asked. “You know what they can do?”
“I’ve heard—one sec,” he said as he shifted the ground and crushed the tires of the Shadow, deforming them and making the vehicle inoperable. “That should slow them down a bit.”
We jumped in the Rhino and drove away.
“Well?” I asked. “What are these things?”
“The Black Hearts are used as cloaks, usually, but they are rare to find and even harder to make,” he said as we approached Circe’s address. ““Heard it takes an Arch Mystic to create one.”
“Buck is no Arch Mystic,” I answered. “I’ll have to ask him how he got this one.”
I stopped two blocks away from the address Rafe had given me and then got out. Ross did the same and checked his gun.
“I don’t know if the Heart is working right,” he said. “I can sense you through the ground. Did you charge it?”
“I drained it in the EDV,” I said. “With these things on I can’t charge it, so if Enforcers are around, they are going to find us if we get close to their calibrators.”
“Chances are the house is being watched,” he said. “What’s the address?””
I gave him the address and he located the house. It was in the middle of the block in a row of houses. Houses ran the length of both sides of the block. An alleyway divided the center of the block.
“Let’s approach from the back,” he said. “They will most likely be watching the front. Maybe one or two at the back.”
“She probably has wards all over the place,” I said, remembering the past day’s explosions. “I don’t want to get blown up again.”
“Again?” he asked, and then waved my answer away. “Never mind, don’t tell me. I can see the wards if they are in the ground.”
“Oh, that should help,” I said. “I’m certain your ward-sensing skills will alert us to any danger.”
A Dream of Ashes: An Ava James Mystery (Chronicles of the Modern Mystics Book 1) Page 5
