Revik’s stare paused on the blue-eyed seer another beat, then he looked around at the rest of the Lao Hu infiltrators, eyes narrow.
His voice came out calm once more, but now, it held an edge.
“I won’t hurt your leader,” he said. “If you give me no reason, she will come out of this completely unharmed. I give you my word, as your intermediary.”
The Lao Hu infiltrators traded looks.
Jon could feel more information passing in the space, even being a non-seer, but the looks on their faces were pretty easy to read.
They didn’t believe him. Not for a second.
“I will not harm her,” Revik repeated. “I realize it is war with us, either way, but you must know I would not risk my people being hurt… my wife being hurt. Your mistress’ life is insurance for me, as much as it is for you. But I will take it, if need be. Do not test me on this, please. I will leave here with my wife. The easy way… or the hard way.”
Hearing his words, Jon swallowed, realizing Revik meant every one.
If he had to leave here by leveling half the City, he would.
Jon felt the infiltrators surrounding them reacting to his words as well, maybe realizing the same thing he had. Revik might not win, but he just might kill half of them trying. He also might manage to get Allie free of the collar, and all of them had seen the tapes of her in São Paulo.
Not only that, Jon could tell they didn’t want to kill Allie.
Whatever else she’d done here, some of them appeared to be loyal to her.
Jon glanced up at the silk-upholstered chair, and realized Revik had knocked Voi Pai unconscious. She lay slumped on the round cushions now, her black bun bunched up strangely from the angle of her head and throat, her cat-like eyes closed.
Without that predatory stare, her face appeared strangely soft, and older somehow.
“I will take her with us, to ensure our safe passage,” Revik added. “Only as far as I need to, my brothers and sisters. I promise you I will not hurt her, if you give me no cause. I want no war with your people––not that kind of war. I only want my wife. I came only for my wife.”
“You will never make it out of Beijing alive,” one of the infiltrators said.
Revik’s eyes swiveled, meeting his.
“You’d better hope I do, brother,” he said, his eyes a touch colder. “Your mistress’ life depends on it.”
61
CATCHING UP
JON WALKED BACK through the City in a near-daze.
He gripped Allie’s hand, but neither of them really looked at the other as they made their way back through the successive gates.
Even after they’d left the Meridian Gate and reached the wide gardens on the other side, there was a odd, impenetrable silence over the entire procession.
Allie walked easily in the flowing skirt, despite the chill of the evening air. Garensche had offered her his shirt, but she’d declined politely, smiling at him as she pointed out that it was warm enough that she could make it to the front gate, at least. Even her feet remained bare as she walked the stone paths, jangling slightly as the chains moved with each step.
No one really looked at her, or at what she wore, but Jon found himself acutely aware of it.
He knew she wasn’t messing with them; she really didn’t seem to care much about her clothes. More than that, he could feel her urgency around their leaving. She didn’t want to waste time with clothing when they had Voi Pai captive, not with all those seers following them as they made their way back to the main gate.
He felt her awareness of all of their lives, even as she gripped his hand tighter.
Her feet must have been cold, much less her legs and arms, but when Jon glanced at her face, she only stared around at the seers circling her in a protective ring, as if she still wasn’t sure any of them were real.
He saw her eyes pause on Balidor and Wreg again, as if unable to reconcile seeing them walking side by side, only to swivel back to Garensche, Dorje, Jax, Yumi, and Poresh. She paused again on Vikram and Tenzi, her eyes reflecting a similar confusion, only to look back at a few more of the Rebels, ones with names Jon hadn’t yet learned.
Lao Hu infiltrators followed them every step of the way through the City grounds.
Some followed them openly, walking only a dozen or so paces to either side of their huddled procession. A few seers who weren’t military approached them too, and some of them tried to give Allie gifts. One female seer, wearing revealing clothes and also barefoot, ran up to the group with tears in her eyes. She tossed over a bag of something she claimed were Allie’s belongings. After scanning whatever it was, Jon saw a Middle Eastern seer take it, nodding his thanks to the seer and hefting it over his shoulder.
Most of those following them were less friendly, however.
Most also seemed to keep their eyes on Revik, who brought up the rear, his gaze fixed straight ahead, although Jon had no doubt he continued to operate in a number of different levels of the Barrier.
Wreg held Voi Pai.
The Lao Hu leader remained unconscious, and now she wore a collar.
Balidor had fitted it around her neck, locking it there at Revik’s instruction once they’d been provided one of the devices by the Lao Hu infiltrators––also at Revik’s command. Wreg held her carefully, and visibly, so the Lao Hu could see she remained unharmed, but none of that seemed to relax a single one of the seers following them.
Jon didn’t realize just how tense he was until Allie squeezed his fingers.
He nearly jumped out of his skin before he turned his head, gasping as he met her gaze. She smiled at his expression, but her green eyes remained distant.
“Cass?” she said softly.
Jon hesitated, then shook his head. “She’s all right. We’re going to her,” he added. “After this, I mean.”
Allie nodded, then glanced around them once more.
“How did he find me, Jon?” she said.
Her voice had a faint note of accusation in it.
Frowning, Jon shook his head, clicking softly as he pulled her closer to him. “We’ll talk about that later, Al.”
She let him tug her closer, walking beside him carefully with her bare feet.
It was cold in the dark, but Jon could see flowers on the trees, and remembered it was spring again, that winter had finally passed. He’d spent so much of the last few months underground, he found himself inhaling the scent of blossoms in spite of himself, feeling an odd sort of relief in the simple fact of life exploding out around him.
His shoulders relaxed in the same instant. He held her hand tighter, against his side, giving Dorje a bare glance where the seer walked closely on her other side.
All of the seers were looking at her, Jon realized.
It occurred to him in the same moment that he wasn’t the only one who felt guilty.
After what felt like another long silence, they reached the front gate.
Seers stood in a line at the edge of it, parting as they got closer, all of them staring either at Allie or at the collared Voi Pai being carried by Wreg. Jon noticed a number of the seers seemed emotional. He saw a few bow as they passed, and not only to Voi Pai. Many made the symbol of the Bridge with one hand when Allie reached them, too.
Instead of touching Jon, it angered him, and reminded him again that he might never understand all the weird-ass ritual and “respect” crap of seers. That they’d kept her here like an animal, forcing her to work off some stupid debt, and yet still had the temerity to act like Revik and the rest of them were stealing some precious artifact from their City––it infuriated him.
Dorje touched his shoulder gently.
Jon felt the reassurance of his touch, but the tightness remained in his chest anyway. He hadn’t let himself think about any of this too much. For one thing, like everyone else, he’d been afraid Revik might lose his shit for real if they didn’t hold steady for him. He supposed he’d been in denial too, not wanting to believe what Voi Pai had do
ne to her.
He was so sick of this degrading crap with seers.
“It is over now, cousin,” Dorje said softly.
“For now,” Jon muttered.
Allie looked up at him, studying his face silently. Realizing his eyes were leaking somewhat, he brushed away the tears angrily, giving her a taut smile.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice low.
He let out a humorless snort, squeezing her hand. “Shut up, sis,” he said. “Or I’m going to have to kick your ass.”
She didn’t answer, but he didn’t see her smile, either.
They made their way through the last gate as silently as they had all of the others.
Jon felt himself stiffen, preparing himself for the worst as they left the main construct of the Lao Hu. It was too late in the evening for any tourists to be outside, but Jon still fought an exposed feeling. He wondered if it came from the other seers, if they knew something he didn’t. Glancing up at the high walls of Tian’anmen Gate, it occurred to him that they could just shoot Revik from there.
Then again, if it was that easy, they would have done it already.
He glanced at Allie, watching her wince as they reached the road, picking her steps carefully on the uneven sidewalk. She blinked against the lights of the high buildings, raising a hand in bewilderment to shield her eyes from the headlamps of passing cars.
He tugged harder on her hand, pulling her insistently down a stone path that wound between trees in a small park between them and the main road. The other seers closed around them tighter, and Jon glanced at her bare feet as his hand and legs urged her to hurry.
They reached the curb right as three stretch limousines pulled up, one after the other. The doors seemed to be open before they’d come to a complete stop.
Jon followed when Garensche and Dorje motioned Allie into the middle car.
He glanced back in time to see Revik disappear into the rear car with Wreg, Balidor and Vikram. Revik spared him a quick look, then glanced at Dorje before he disappeared.
Jon quirked an eyebrow at the Tibetan-looking seer.
“He’s not riding with us?” Jon said, quiet, as Allie got into the car in front of him.
Dorje shook his head, giving him a look that said he’d explain later.
Then they were all in the car and speeding down the road.
Jon didn’t feel relaxed, even then. It probably didn’t help how many people were in the back of that limo. He found himself shoved into the rear seat with Dorje on one side and Allie on the other. Garensche sat by the door, and now he had a gun in his hand. More weapons were being passed around the tight space. Jon accepted a handgun that Holo handed him, then a few magazines, which he shoved into his jacket pocket. Checking the magazine on the gun, then the gun itself, he kept it aimed at the floor, the safety on, but he didn’t put it down.
Everyone seemed to be armed except Allie now.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Allie looked around at all of them, as if coming out of a daze.
Dorje answered the question she never bothered to voice aloud.
“He’s behind us, Esteemed Bridge,” he said. “He is helping the others read Voi Pai, while they have the opportunity.” At Allie's blank look, Dorje tapped his temple. “Intelligence, Esteemed Bridge. We’ll need it. Especially now.”
“Intelligence on what?” she said.
“Who bought you,” Tenzi answered, his voice hard. “Who hired the Wvercian you killed. They wish also to determine more information about the disease Chandre found in the United States. Voi Pai’s earlier communication to you conflicts with our own intelligence.”
At Allie’s questioning look, Dorje picked up where Tenzi left off.
“Chandre has no sample of this disease, as Voi Pai accused, Esteemed Bridge,” he said. “There is some concern that someone else may have custody of this sample instead. Voi Pai was not forthcoming when your husband questioned her in the hours prior to our audience.”
Allie flinched visibly. Jon guessed it was from what Dorje called Revik.
She only nodded though, leaning her head against Garensche’s thick arm.
“Yeah,” she said, sounding tired suddenly. “She wasn’t all that forthcoming with me on that subject, either.” She turned her head, looking at Dorje directly. “How did he find me, Dorje? Did one of these lugs tell him?”
She rolled her eyes up, indicating Garensche behind her.
The large seer laughed, jostling her back.
Then a muscular arm stole around her, hugging her from behind, hard enough that her eyes widened a little. He hugged her again when Allie glanced up, smiling at him wanly, then gripped her bare shoulder with one hand, holding her tightly against his side. Jon couldn’t help but smile when he felt warmth flood the car, like an exhaled breath.
Holo and Jax moved closer, perching on the ends of their seats to be nearer to her.
“You’re going to lose that hand, Gar,” Holo said, but he grinned at Allie as well, touching her leg and then her arm almost tentatively.
“Yes,” Raddi said, another handsome, tattoo-covered seer who looked almost like a younger version of Wreg to Jon. “Wait until the boss sees you groping his wife.”
He caressed her fingers though, smiling at her from the opposite seat.
Jax wiped his eyes, touching her other leg as well, then her hand.
“Are you all right, Esteemed Bridge?”
She smiled around at all of them. “I’m fine.”
Poresh shoved closer to her as well, moving Jon out of the way. He slid an arm around her from the other side, as did Yumi from next to him, her tattooed face wrinkling under her smile. She caressed Allie’s face with long fingers, then kissed her cheek, elbowing Poresh when he laughed.
Even Loki, the solemn-faced seer from the Rebels, the one who looked like he came from a desert somewhere in the Middle East, moved closer to touch her leg.
For a long moment, Jon watched them look at her, as if assuring themselves that she was all right. It hit him suddenly, with a flush of emotion, that the Rebels loved her. She hadn’t been wrong, in trying to keep them safe.
Finally, it all seemed to get a little too awkward for Allie.
Still leaning against Garensche’s bulk, she gave them all a wry smile.
“So is anyone going to tell me?”
“Tell you what, Esteemed Bridge?” Yumi said.
“Why Wreg and Balidor haven’t killed one another yet?”
All of them broke out in laughter around her.
Something about that made Jon relax even more, even as the tightening in his throat briefly worsened. Even feeling like hell, like she probably did right now, something about having her back lifted the mood of everyone in the car. Most of them leaned back from where they’d hovered around her, still laughing amongst themselves as they gave each other knowing looks.
Garensche was the first to answer her in actual words.
“They’ve tried a few times––” he began.
“You should have heard them in the first planning sessions we tried to have,” Poresh added, laughing. “It was, ‘I’ll stab you in your sleep, kneeler…’ and ‘are you done trying to kill the Sword, you ink-covered Dreng addict?’”
“I think Wreg might have punched him, in one of those meetings,” Jax added. “Or maybe just shoved him. But your husband wouldn’t allow it to go much further––”
“––You should’ve seen them talking about who should accompany him in here,” Dorje began, shoving at Loki’s arm, who only smiled at him narrowly, his dark eyes unmoving from Allie’s face.
“––and Wreg’s face when the Sword first told them he intended to combine infiltration teams,” Raddi added, laughing.
“I’m not sure Wreg will ever forgive the Sword for not letting him gun Adhipan Balidor down on the spot,” Holo said, grinning. “He complains under his breath every time the boss isn’t listening––”
“We think the boss shou
ld assign tasters for their food, so one of them doesn’t show up dead. At this point we need all the infiltrators we can get––”
Allie looked around at all of them, a vague wonder still in her eyes.
“How did this happen?” she said. “How are you all here?”
Garensche laughed again, squeezing her against him, tightly enough that she grabbed his arm. “The boss gave us a choice. We could follow him, or Salinse and the Dreng. But not both. He told us we were going to ally with the Seven, which meant the Adhipan too… and no killing one another once we’d taken that vow––”
“––He said we had to stop fighting amongst ourselves,” Jax added. “That we have to start rounding up the seers who are out there, from the work camps, before Salinse makes them dependent on the Rooks. He wants to rebuild a seer economy––”
“––He wants to start a new colony, too,” Poresh added. “And rebuild Seertown. Maybe also the colony in the Pamir. He’s talked about freeing the remaining seers from work camps, forcing new terms with the humans once we have the leverage––”
Allie looked around at them, her mouth firm, as if she was keeping herself from responding.
The bewilderment in her eyes remained, however. Jon saw her willfully shove some of her own thoughts on what they were saying from her mind.
“But not everyone?” she said. “How many from the Rebels took his terms?”
“Thirty-eight of us, so far,” Jax answered promptly. “…In Asia anyway. A few more in South America. He hasn’t approached everyone yet. We were still in the process of contacting people, when…” He colored a little, looking down at her clothes, then shrugged with one hand. “…I don’t know how many of us are left,” he finished lamely.
“How many went back to Salinse?” she said.
The others looked at one another, and again Jax’s expression grew uncomfortable.
“Closer to seventy, Esteemed Bridge,” he explained apologetically. “Ute left first. She contacted a bunch of the others. Salinse commanded a lot of loyalty before the Sword returned. Many of them owe him their lives.”
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