“Just a moment more, Brandt.” Easy for him to say. His voice was matter-of-fact, all business. The headache dug harder into my temples.
I closed my eyes, frowning. “I haven’t used my power, Winterfield.” Why couldn’t he just believe me for once?
The pinpricks stopped, and the headache faded. I opened my eyes. Winterfield had removed the spook specs.
“I am pleased to verify that you haven’t,” he said.
“You could have just taken my word for it.” He wasn’t going to tell me what he saw, except that somehow the spook specs showed I hadn’t used my power, and that I wasn’t lying.
He snorted, paid our check, and we headed outside together.
Winterfield followed me to the Buick. We were both over six feet tall, so he looked me in the eye. “Think about the choices you make,” he said. “They have consequences.” He shook his head. “And ditch the whole “ignorance is bliss” attitude. You’ll just wind up being someone else’s patsy.”
Great, first the spook specs, now a nugget of wisdom from the PO. I shoved the anger down. “I will.” What else did he expect me to say? No? And the bastard wouldn’t even let me try to forget who I was. Like I could.
He got in his black Ford Republic sedan and drove off.
I knew full well choices have consequences. I was living proof.
I drove back home after another thanks but no thanks interview at a restaurant for a waitress job. I would have stunk as a waitress anyway.
The gold Lincoln Overlord with the whitewall tires and silver-spoke rims idled in front of our apartment building, doors open, gangers waiting outside.
Old habits made me do an inventory. Four crooks, all dressed in tailored suits, which seemed to be all the rage with the shady set these days. Three of the gangers had shaved heads, one was Asian, another black, the third shaved head belonged to a white guy. The second white guy in the group had long blond hair in a ponytail, and wore a cream colored suit. He leaned against the Lincoln’s trunk.
My muscles tensed as I took this all in. I jumped out of the car, went up to the Lincoln.
“Hey,” the blond said. Jeweled rings winked on his fingers. He smiled with bright white, even teeth. That was some expensive dentistry in his mouth.
Our door opened and Ava and Ella came out, smiling, until they saw me. Ava said something to Ella, and they both marched down the stairs, Ava in the lead.
“The girls are staying here,” I told the blond.
He nodded at the other three goons. They got into the Lincoln, the Asian behind the wheel.
“It's up to the ladies,” he said.
Ava marched up to me. “We’re going with them.”
She started to push past me and I grabbed her arm.
The blond ganger grinned, buffed his fingernails on his suit. “I hate it when sisters fight.”
Ava twisted in my grip.
Our apartment door opened and Ruth appeared.
She waved at me. “Mat! No fighting!” She coughed and doubled over. Damn it. She shouldn’t have to deal with this crap.
I let go of Ava. She flounced over to the Lincoln, slipped inside the back. Ella avoided my glare and joined her.
The blond ganger shrugged. “Sorry, babe, looks like the ladies have spoken. You know, you could join us.”
“Fat chance.”
He shrugged a second time. “Your loss. Too bad.” He acted like he knew something I didn’t. I wanted to punch the smugness off his face.
He got into the ganger mobile and sat between the twins. The car roared to life. The blond threw his arms around the girls and grinned back at me. Cocky jerk.
The Lincoln drove off.
Damn it! I couldn’t let the twins go off with these creeps.
“Mat, don’t go after them,” Ruth called from the top of the stairs. “I don’t want you back in prison!” There was sudden steel in her voice.
I ignored her, jumped in the Buick, and followed the Lincoln.
The gangers drove to the north side of Portland, to a tree-lined street, and stopped in front of an old three-story house. I had kept my distance as I trailed them across town, but they must have known I was following them.
I parked behind the Lincoln, got out, and took a deep breath.
My sisters were idiots.
The day was warm for late February; there was a hint of spring in the air with the smell of flowers about to blossom, and budding leaves. The walnut trees lining the street seemed to shiver, and I felt myself reaching out to them with my power.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to stop.
The left rear door of the Lincoln opened. Ava scrambled out, face twisted in rage. “Leave us the fuck alone, Mathilda.”
Ella appeared behind her, followed by Cocky Jerk.
I pointed at the house. I could see where this was going. A ‘party’ for these gangers, featuring my sisters. “You aren’t going inside that house, or anywhere else with these men.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at Ruth’s Buick. “Get inside.”
The rest of the gangers got out of the Overlord and stood watching the show.
Ava stomped her foot. “No!”
Anger rose inside me. I pushed it back down.
“I’ll talk with these men then, and you drive yourselves home in the Buick.” I shoved Ruth’s car keys at the twins. “You both have your licenses. Go home.”
Ava crossed her arms. “Hell, no.”
Ella, ever the follower, did likewise, but she wouldn't meet my gaze.
Cocky Jerk spread his arms wide, and smiled brightly. “Ladies, ladies,” he said to the twins. “Do as your sister asks and head home. Maybe we’ll hook up later.”
“What?” Ava shouted. “But we were going to party with you!”
He shrugged. “We were, but I’ve wanted to talk with your sister, and now is the perfect time.” Just like I had told the twins. The gangers wanted to get to me, the rogue Empowered. No doubt some stupid scheme to make a pile of cash.
“Talk?” Ava was stunned. “Talk about what? I thought you wanted to hang with us?”
“Sure, babe, we like some fun, but this is business.”
Tears streaked Ava’s face, her mouth moved, but nothing came out. They had totally played my sisters.
A single tear ran down Ella’s face. My face hardened. Damn these men.
“Go,” I told Ella. “Take Ava.” I handed Ella the car keys and stepped out of the way. My shoe brushed against moss lining the curb, and a jolt of energy ran up my leg. The moss started to spread beneath my heel, whispering wetly in my brain. No. NO. I forced it to stop. I couldn’t break my parole. Yeah, I was meeting with criminals, but this would be over quickly. Then it was back to the straight and narrow.
Ella tugged at Ava’s elbow. “Come on, Ava.” She pulled Ava past me to the Buick while the gangers watched, grinning. Ella pushed Ava inside, looked at me.
“Come home with us. Please.”
“I need to talk with them.” I was ending this. Now.
“Don’t. Come home.”
“I have to.”
She squeezed away tears and started up the car. I watched them drive off.
They were safe for now. I needed to make them safe forever.
I turned to the leader. He was grinning at me like he’d just won a lottery.
“I’m glad we agree we need to talk.” He grew serious. “My name is Raphe Hatcher, and my associates…"
“I don’t need to know their names.” I cut him off. I didn’t want to know anything about them. I could lie more convincingly to Winterfield that way.
Hatcher shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Okay, what’s this about?”
“Let’s discuss this inside.” He jerked his head toward the house, a three-story wreck with a moss-covered gabled roof and a tall turret with a long curtained window that stared at me like a lidded eye, blood-red velvet drapes closed.
I held up a hand. “We’re not having
a conversation in there.”
Hatcher looked at me in mock sadness. “There’s no reason for mistrust.” What a load of bullshit. The guy just wouldn’t stop.
I shook my head. “We aren’t going to be talking long enough to worry about trusting each other.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Hatcher said. “But we aren’t having this conversation in the street.” He jerked his head at the house. “Inside,” he ordered. He had a point. I didn’t want anyone seeing me with the gangers.
I had a stupid idea. The backyard behind the Victorian was fenced. A huge bank of blackberry bushes grew up over the wooden fence, but there was a gate beside the house. Never let yourself be cornered. But these guys were just two-bit crooks. I’d dealt with other rogue Empowered, before, especially inside Special Corrections.
I pointed at the gate. “Let’s talk in the backyard.”
“Sure, works for us,” Hatcher said. He motioned for me to walk ahead.
I waved them forward. “I’ll follow you.”
Hatcher shook his head, looking sad. “You got to trust us.”
I raised an eyebrow. Was this idiot serious?
He shook his head, chuckling, and headed toward the back.
Ivy climbed up the side of the house. The grass beneath our feet was scraggly crabgrass that grew up from the moss-covered earth. Both pulsed with thirst for more rain.
The wooden gate creaked as the lead ganger opened it and we filed into the backyard. The scent of wet earth mingled with moss, shrubs, and blackberry vines. They were dormant but moist with winter’s touch still on their leaves. The air was thick, pregnant with life's potential waiting to burst forth into spring. I swayed.
A firm, strong hand on my elbow steadied me.
“Hey, girl, you all right?” Hatcher actually looked concerned.
Funny. If this wasn’t so deadly serious I’d be doubled over laughing.
I pulled my arm from Hatcher’s grasp. “I’m fine, thanks.”
The gate closed with a bang.
My heart pounded harder. My mouth was suddenly bone-dry. I took a deep breath. Never let them see fear. Ever.
Hulking blackberry thickets surrounded the yard on three sides. The rusting ruin of an overturned wheelbarrow was just visible inside the thicket near me. Ivy covered the house’s backside. I’d have to catalyze the ivy to make it strong enough to support my weight.
Hatcher gestured at the yard. “We have some privacy here, Mathilda. I can call you Mathilda, right? Or would you prefer Mat?”
His smile was suddenly all teeth, making him look like a shark. His three pals grinned in similar shark-like fashion. What did the twins see in these goons? Teenaged hormones running amok made Ava and Ella imagine a humanity that wasn’t there.
Behind me, on the house, the ivy called, urging me to put my strength into it, to grow it, so that it could give me a path to escape.
I ignored it. That was my fear talking, not the ivy.
Far above us a sonic boom split the sky. All five of us glanced up, and for a fraction of a second I saw a blue and white winged needle hurling westward, toward the Pacific Ocean at impossible speeds. It must be Pan American’s Trans-Pacific scramjet, boosting toward Tokyo.
I wished I were flying away on the scramjet, free of all this.
If I weren’t here, maybe these creeps wouldn’t be preying on my sisters, but I was here, so they preyed on my family. Running away wouldn’t help now.
“Let’s talk,” Hatcher said.
I shifted my stance, arms loose at my sides. “That’s why I came. You are going to leave my sisters alone. Starting now.”
Hatcher’s brow furrowed. “Just like that?”
Two of his lackeys chuckled. The other pulled on a pair of brass knuckles and flexed his arms.
Damn it. I forced myself to breath slowly.
“Just like that,” I said. “Everyone walks away with skin intact. Sound good?”
All four laughed, Hatcher so hard that he closed his eyes for a moment and waved a hand at me to wait.
He stopped laughing. “Here’s what’s going to happen, Mat. You are going to use your power to help us grow certain rare and very valuable botanicals that have a very strong market demand. It happens to be an illegal market, but we never let that stop us, and you shouldn’t either.”
He snapped his fingers. “You do that, and we’ll leave your sisters alone. Your precious grandmother, too.”
I scowled.
Hatcher nodded. “Yeah, we know about her. She’s got Thalik’s disease. No cure, terminal, right?”
I ground my teeth. How did this asshole know so much about Ruth? Did my idiot sisters blab all this?
He went on. “We know all about your family and your past. Why do you think we invested so much time in your sisters?” He winked at me. “Didn’t hurt that they were fun little girls, but this is really business.”
I unclenched my hands. “Shut up. I mean it.”
“Go ahead and make all the faces you want. But you are going to do what we want. That might even include giving us a taste of you, too, if you want your sisters kept out of it.” He shrugged. “Of course, this can be profitable and pleasurable for you, too.”
Living under the thumb of Hatcher and his gangers? Fat chance.
“No way.”
Hatcher sighed. “I was afraid that we might have to take this further.” He glanced at the ganger with the brass knuckles. “Not her face. It’s not as fun if her face is messed up.
My jaw tightened. To hell with consequences, to hell with parole, and to hell with Winterfield. I was ending this now and forever, for the twins and for Ruth.
Mister Brass Knuckles ambled toward me, past the tangled mountain of blackberry vines, a lazy grin on his face, swinging his arms slowly, like he was warming up for batting practice.
I reached with my power, into the vines, tasting their bitter tang. Wake, I urged the vines. I extended my connection into the roots, pulling nutrients up and into the vines, pulling water into the roots, pulling carbon dioxide from the air, bringing the vines to life. The blackberry thicket moaned and I shuddered. That felt so good after so many years not being able to use my power.
I commanded the nearest vine, bristling with inch-long thorns, to stretch out and loop around Brass Knuckle’s calf.
“Ow!” The ganger instinctively grabbed the vine, yelped again as the thorns tore his flesh. I urged the vine to coil tighter, slicing through fabric and flesh. The man fell, screaming.
Hatcher’s eyes widened. “Shit!” He grabbed at the inside of his suit jacket and his two other minions did likewise.
Guns. They were going for their guns.
My muscles screamed as I gestured wildly, pushing my vital energy into the blackberry thicket. The thicket rose up, like a giant spider made of thorny vines and I sent it rampaging forward.
The old wheelbarrow toppled with a thud inside the writhing mass. One of the gangers turned, gun drawn, and yelled as the thicket engulfed him. His yells turned to screams.
“Stop it, now.” Hatcher pointed a Colt automatic pistol at me.
The two other gangers backed away from the thicket, waving pistols at the vines reaching for him.
I jumped to my right and twisted my arms in an arching motion. Hatcher’s Colt boomed in my ear and a bullet slammed into my side. I hit the ground, breath whooshing from me.
The thicket twined around Hatcher and his goons. He brought his arms up, while the others tried to run, fell and were overrun by razor-sharp thorns. Blood turned the thorns scarlet.
Everything started to dim. I tried to stand, tried to push healing energy to the wound, but the world tilted. I fell back to the ground. Was this it?
I was suddenly thirsty. Hatcher was screaming now.
Die you bastard, I managed to think through a thickening haze.
I wasn’t going to make it. Empowered healed faster than normals. But my body’s accelerated healing wouldn’t be nearly fast enough, especial
ly not with all the vitality I’d poured into the blackberry thickets.
But these bastard criminals wouldn’t either, and at least Ava and Ella, and Ruth, too, would be free of these assholes.
I lay down. The screaming was getting weaker. I closed my eyes, imagining the thorns sawing through flesh and bone.
Darkness fell on me like a mountain.
Chapter 3
There was nothing. Then there was this irritating beeping. Beep…beep…beeep. The beeping seemed to go on forever. I couldn’t move. If this was hell, it was damned annoying.
I thought I heard a voice, but I couldn’t make it what it was saying. Blah, blah, blah blah blah, the voice said. Great, that told me loads.
Memories swirled through my awareness like lost friends.
That asshole who wouldn’t stop looking at my chest during that interview for the warehouse job. The job I held for like a week.
Ruth, giving me a weak hug when I walked through the door for the first time after Special Corrections. Tears kept blinding me.
Ava and Ella listening to doom rock in their room at full volume, and only turning it down a decibel when I rapped on the door.
Winterfield, sitting in that booth with his back to the wall, watching me with those ice blue eyes of his. Judging me, always judging me, and I could never measure up.
Special Corrections, waiting for me to return. The force shield distorted the world outside, like heat off asphalt in summer. Not being able to see beyond the walls of the force shield, forever.
Beep. Beep. Beeep.
Nothing.
My nose itched. There was something jammed in it, in both nostrils, that made breathing feel funny. My side hurt like hell. I think I still heard that damn beeping, but the pain had my full attention. To top it off, my mouth was dry as the desert.
I coughed, a dry cough that made my throat hurt and sent pain stabbing me in my left side.
“Ah, you awaken. Good.” The voice was female, with a high and mighty sounding accent. British? I only knew Brits from television, but she sounded like one. Fingers traced my aching left side, where a bullet slammed into me who knew how long ago.
“Why am I alive?” I croaked out the words.
Empowered: Agent (The Empowered Series Book 1) Page 3
