by Jody Klaire
Frei’s group lowered their hockey sticks and appeared from either side of the door. Guess the gym was missing some stock.
“Complication,” she offered as she took the guard to the bike rack.
She grabbed the cable tie from her pocket—an addition Frei had added to their mission equipment—and secured him to a solid post.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You won’t get away—”
Renee shoved tape over his mouth—another Frei addition—grateful that one of them was sneaky.
“You’re leaving him here?” the boy, one of Jones’s group, piped up from through the window of the bus. She felt his fear ripple over her.
Renee put on her best patient smile. “Yes, he’s in nothing but boxer shorts and socks. He’s not hurting anyone.”
“But he can see what’s going on.” The boy hugged himself. The others looked to him and she could tell they were as worried.
Renee pulled the cover off one of the motorcycles, winced at the dented paint work, and threw it over the guard.
“Better?”
It earned her a few nervous chuckles.
“Stevie, if he moves,” Jed said, “I’ll knock him out myself. How’s that?”
The boy’s fear evaporated.
“Let’s hope you don’t have to do that,” Renee said, fighting the urge to chastise him. She was getting like her mother. The thought made her smile.
“Professor Worthington,” Jed called as she reached the door.
She turned, trying not to let her worry show. She needed to move not talk. “Yes?”
“You can do it.” He nodded to her, the students each nodding with him.
She felt a wave of support crash over her and her shoulders relaxed. Her throat tightened and all she could manage was a nod.
Aeron was right. These teenagers were incredible.
She pulled out her necklace, kissed it, and headed into the storm.
The same St. Christopher’s Aeron had placed around her neck. The St. Christopher’s that had once belonged to Aeron.
Her armor.
She needed to focus on her armor.
URSULA ROUNDED THE corner of the corridor and typed the code into the keypad. It opened the first time. Jessie’s notes made things far easier.
She turned to Huber. “Make it quick.”
Huber strolled through and went into Kevin’s room. Ursula placed the second earpiece to her ear and smiled. As if she wouldn’t have bugged him.
“Good evening, Kevin,” Huber began. His charm flowed through his voice. “I hear you’re quite a handful.”
“You the buyer?” Kevin sounded unsure, afraid. “I haven’t been to auction yet.”
So Kevin knew he was a slave. How? He’d been near none of the students. He’d been in confinement since Owens’ attempted rescue.
“I don’t need to put you through an auction. What I’m interested in is that nasty streak of yours.”
“I don’t talk to thieves.” Kevin’s tone made something pulse into life inside her.
She heard footsteps, ducked back, and pressed the button to make Huber’s pocket whistle.
“First thing we’ll do is teach you manners.”
Ursula wasn’t surprised to hear Kevin shriek with pain. Huber wasn’t someone to mess around.
A few moments later Huber appeared beside her. She shut the door, locked it, and led him down the stairs.
“He is really worth your time?”
Huber smiled at her. “Ah, Locks, he’s not you. Not every jewel is as precious as you are. The boy’s brain is worth his fire.”
“Are you sure of that?”
Huber nodded. “Quite. Jäger had him in a simulation machine. He kept his owner safe and his money. Megan won’t like him. He thought nothing of using a mistress for a shield.”
Aeron had been right about Kevin. Ursula was glad she’d listened.
“Sounds like you’re looking for a locksmith and commander?”
“I doubt he could ever be a locksmith but I lost mine when she ran off to play policewoman. Your other abilities were a bonus and I’m in need of both.”
“He’d turn on you.” Why she was bothering to worry, she didn’t know. But she did. Huber was the closest thing she had to a parent.
“Not by the time I’ve finished with him.” He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the side entrance door. “You forget how persuasive I can be.”
“You never laid a finger on me.” Her voice sounded quiet to her own ears.
“Because you love me. You still do, which is why you will take those children and leave Kevin to me.” Huber ruffled her hair. “Put on your mask. Go, play the hero.”
She felt like a child around him and couldn’t explain it. “Jäger won’t like it.”
“No, I don’t suppose he will but I do enjoy flattening an ego.” Huber slapped her across the bottom, making her wince.
She disappeared into the dust. She’d done her duty to him. Now she just had to get a load of kids out.
LIGHTS. HEAT. THE lone sound of my violin next to my ear. My heart had slowed. Sweat still present, nerves still present but calming. Music hummed through me.
My arm felt weaker than could be accounted for with my own nerves. I glanced at Miranda, her face pale. Nausea whirled in my stomach. She shook with nerves.
I looked back at my violin, tried to shut off from it.
If she fainted I would just play on because if I stopped and the music kept going, I’d need more than Renee and Frei to get us out.
Breathe. She needed my strength. She needed me to help her. I shut my eyes and focused on every warm happy thought I could find.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart burst into a rhythm against my palm. His gasp in my ear. I held on. He gripped me back. My legs buckled with the effort. Love pulsed back from him. Energy bounced to and fro, back and forth, building. We were healing each other.
“You scared me half to death,” he rasped in my ear. I could feel his joy.
I buried my head in his shoulder, holding fast, every desperate need being answered. He didn’t hate me. He’d risked everything to get me back. He loved me.
“I thought you didn’t want me.” Tears dribbled into my mouth. “I thought you hated me.”
My father gripped me so tight that I felt like a precious treasure. He’d risked everything for me. “I love you, baby.” He rubbed my back. “I love you, baby girl.”
The memory pulsed through me. Heal each other. That was it. Miranda and I. We needed to do this together. I focused on every single person I adored and opened my eyes.
The bar before the switch.
I shone every ounce of love I felt, picturing it flowing to her. I fixed my eyes on hers. Every breath, every thought urging her on.
You can do this. You can do it.
Something rippled through her. Had she felt it. Could she feel it. Either way her chin rose. She took a breath. She hovered her bow above the strings . . .
The changeover was seamless.
I didn’t let my focus drop. I kept my eyes on Miranda. After she’d finished her part, we’d play the coda together.
I had no idea where Renee was but I hoped she was ready. I hoped the students and Frei were okay. Miranda was clinging on with the energy I was sending her but it was draining me.
I caught Owens leave out the corner of my eye. Great. Where was she going? I hoped Renee had figured out a way to keep Owens busy. There was nothing I could do. I had to keep focused on Miranda.
I had to trust Renee and Frei to do their thing.
I felt another burst of warmth roll through me. I did. I trusted them. I loved them. They could do it. I met Miranda’s eyes, willing her to hold on. We could do it.
Chapter 54
RENEE STOPPED AS she headed into the main building. The door to the office on her right was ajar. A dim light shone out of it. She crept closer, hand on the gun in her waistband, and pulled off her mask.
“Jäger, I
told you that the boy is delusional. You saw him on the roof, you saw him after his little escape. He will tell you anything.”
Renee depressed her mic button as she edged closer. Harrison’s voice was loud and clear.
“Thinks they’re all plotting to escape. Just told me Huber has visited him. How would he know who Huber is?” Jäger sounded alert but not too panicked. Speaker phone maybe?
“The only way Huber could manage that was with Locks. She’s indisposed this evening. The guard confirmed that she hasn’t returned.” Harrison seemed far more important than she’d let on she was. Renee frowned.
“He says Riley is up to something.”
Harrison laughed. “Yes, she was. She’s quite the virtuoso. I suggest you rethink your rejection of her.”
Renee scowled. If he went within twenty feet of her, she’d make him recheck alright. He’d be rechecking his gender.
“I had a feeling he was lying through his teeth.” Jäger’s voice lowered to a growl. Renee winced at the scream in the background. “Perhaps I will reconsider.”
Renee fought the urge to charge in and warn him off.
“Bring the boy. If he runs, kill him.”
Jäger laughed at Harrison’s order. “Smyth won’t like that.”
“No, but if he argues, kill him too.”
A blast of wind hit her. “Blondie, get movin’.”
Nan.
Renee sprinted along the corridor and ducked into the only open door she could find. Harrison strolled out of the office. Her heels clicking along as she tottered by.
“Thanks, Nan,” she whispered up to the ceiling, getting a breeze in reply.
She fumbled with her mic. “Urs, Harrison just ordered Jäger to bring Kevin.” She covered her mouth to keep in her shocked whisper.
“Harrison?”
“Yeah,” she muttered as Harrison’s footfalls faded away. “Yeah, Harrison . . . She wants Jäger to rethink his rejection.”
Renee glanced around at the room she’d ducked into. One of the reception rooms by the look of the shapes in the dark.
“Why?” Ursula muttered to herself. “Why her in particular?”
“Are you really asking me that? Because if you are we could be here a while.” Renee sighed. “I need to move.”
“Head to Harrison’s office.”
After a quick check that the coast was clear, Renee crept into the hallway, then stopped.
Voices.
She dove back into the room as two buyers strolled toward her position and stopped close by. She rested her head back against the wall. Great, more delays.
“Shame that the muscle isn’t for sale.” A man’s voice, sleazy tone. She felt her jaw clench. “She would make a wonderful trophy.”
“Not to mention her extra abilities.” Another male, higher voice, British lilt. “Harrison was right. Wonderful skill.”
Renee frowned. Harrison had known? Who had told her?
The lower voice let out a sharp, “Hah.” A match struck. The smell of pipe smoke tickled her nostrils.
“Shame about her problem with children,” the other answered. It sounded like he was tapping something. Another match struck. Cigar smoke. “Good matrons are hard to buy.”
They both chuckled.
Renee felt along the wall but there was only one door. She sighed. Wonderful.
“Urs, I get the horrible feeling that it isn’t just the kids for sale,” she whispered into her mic.
“How?” Frei sounded half irritated, half distracted.
Renee shook her head. “I don’t know, but they are talking about Aeron as if she’s at auction. We need to get her out. Now.”
Frei was on the move, Renee could hear that much from her breathing. “I agree. Go get her. I’ll set off a distraction.”
Renee checked around the room once more and sighed. “I’m trapped. Buyers are outside my door.”
“And that blonde one on stage with her . . .” The buyer, “mmmd,” and his friend laughed. “I’m asking Smyth if he’ll consider loaning her out too.”
Renee scowled. If they were talking about the students, she would have to shoot—
“Wouldn’t mind her teaching me.” The second buyer sounded as adolescent as his friend.
“Ditch the fan club,” Frei muttered with a trace of humor. “Jäger is on his way with Kevin. He will need to—”
Renee tensed, pulling her gun as Frei swore. “What?”
“Renee, get Aeron. Kevin just stabbed Jäger and is heading your way.”
Renee glanced around the room.
Right.
Get past the buyers. Fan club . . .
She tucked her masks into her blouse, ripped open the top buttons and ruffled her hair.
She stepped out of the room and the buyers turned to look at her. The rotund guy smoking the pipe nearly swallowed it. His larger friend’s cigar drooped in between his lips.
She offered a polite smile, doing up a couple of buttons, knowing their eyes were anywhere but her face.
“Enjoying the show?” she asked as she turned to stroll down toward the backstage door. She made sure she walked in a way that their eyes were riveted to her movement and not her hands holding the masks from falling out.
“Not half as much as someone else,” came the smutty reply.
Renee reached the door, flashed them a wink, and headed inside. “There’s always a teenage boy in there if you look hard enough.”
She opened the backstage door and Miroslav’s eyes dropped to the same level. He cleared his throat and then stared out at the stage. His face filled with enough color to make her shake her head. At least he had an excuse. He was a teenage boy.
“She’s very special,” she whispered to him as they watched Aeron on stage. “It’s very important that we keep her safe.”
Miroslav smiled, looking everywhere but at her. “I know. There is trouble?”
Renee sighed. “Leave it to me. Just keep going so that they can get offstage. Please.”
Miroslav grinned. “For her, anything.”
URSULA CROUCHED LOW in the corridor and watched the buyers wander back toward the theatre. Jäger hobbled toward the main building behind her. Blood dribbled down his leg where Kevin had stabbed him.
Ursula ducked across the corridor, unlocked, and entered Harrison’s office. She’d been in here once as a kid and that was when Huber had picked her up.
When they’d expelled her.
The thought gave her a wry smile and she hurried to the computer, booted it up, and put in her USB drive. It would copy the entire hard drive in a couple of minutes.
While she waited, she opened up the e-mails and hacked the password. As expected, most were rubbish about the auction and academy.
But e-mails from an anonymous sender kept popping up. They were frequent, daily perhaps. Most were rundowns on the staff, on her, on Renee. She clicked on the most recent.
In place. Freak ready to do anything. Has a thing for Jäger.
Ursula shook her head. “Renee, be on your guard. We have a leak.”
“Can’t talk now, Urs.” Renee grunted. There was slamming and clattering. “Kevin.”
Ursula peeked out of the door. Jäger limped in. She tensed. Fear from back then, from deep inside her, ignited and seeped sweat from every pore. She ducked back. Held her breath. He’d hear her shuddering gasps.
“Nasty. Bitten off more than we can chew, have we?” Huber’s voice. Huber? She peeked through the gap. What was he doing?
“I don’t have time for this.” Jäger sounded more irritated than in pain.
She noticed Huber glance in her direction. “I think you may want to hear some information I have on your professor.”
Ursula rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what Huber was saying to her. What a surprise. She opened her mic. “Owens is a leak.”
“Yeah,” Renee grunted back. More slamming. “I had Jessie borrow one of your darts.”
Ursula dropped her hand to her belt and smiled
. Sneaky little thief. She was proud of her.
“Thank Aeron. She had Jed doing some spying. He’d make a good intelligence officer.” Renee grunted again amongst the clattering and crashing.
“Then stop wrestling with the idiot and knock him out.”
“Nag, nag, nag . . . You know that.” More slamming. “If he’s not careful he may end up getting the point.”
Ursula smiled. Renee had known all along. That was the woman she knew and loved.
The USB drive purred. Ursula removed it and placed it in her pocket. She added a second device with a smile. Anyone foolish enough to try and outwit a load of buyers would need to make a quick copy of their accounts and contacts should it all go wrong.
“Not anymore, Harrison.” She pressed the send button and enjoyed watching the screen crash. Every computer linked to it would do the same.
She crept back to the door. Huber’s body language made her tense.
“I don’t care what your sources say, Huber, she works for us.” Jäger limped past him.
She looked down the corridor.
He’d find no students.
Huber met her eyes.
Fear prickled through her. Move. Do something!
She drew her dart gun, opened the door, and fired. Jäger gripped his neck, stared down at the dart, and dropped to his knees.
He reached for his radio.
She fired again.
He slumped forward onto the floor.
Huber hurried to her. “The leak was an oversight. I am disappointed.”
She took one of Jäger’s arms as Huber took the other. She felt a strange glow that he was helping. He hadn’t needed to. “She is darted. Way ahead of you.”
They dragged Jäger into Harrison’s office, left him on a chair, and locked him in. “You really want Kevin?”
“What I want is you. Alas, we can’t always get what we want.” Huber’s smile held genuine warmth. He wasn’t taller than her anymore. They were at eye level now yet he still felt imposing. “I’m getting older. I need someone to keep me from my enemies.”
“You’ll still be terrifying them all in your eighties. You forget that I know you.” Ursula heard him laugh as they crept along the corridor. Her heart smiled, that was the only way she could describe it, that he cared. In whatever odd, dysfunctional way, he actually cared.
