“I don’t think he’s going to like that — we’re really close to a breakthrough here — ”
Julia prevented herself from letting out an annoyed huff. To hear Miles and Lindsay tell it, they were on the verge of a “breakthrough” every other week. The scientist was still attempting to modify his devices so they could ward off the bad djinn — the ones dedicated to hunting down the last of humanity’s survivors — while tamping down the debilitating waves of energy that affected any friendly djinn within their sphere of influence. Julia knew his research was important, because it would make it much simpler for the people in Los Alamos and Santa Fe to interact with one another, but he had yet to see any real success.
“I understand that,” she said. “But it’s also really important to find out how Margolis was able to escape. It’s only one day, basically — we’re going to stay over in Santa Fe tonight, for safety’s sake, but I’m not imagining we’ll need to spend too much time there.”
“Okay,” Lindsay replied. “I’ll let him know. What time do you need us at the municipal center?”
“About forty minutes from now, if you can manage it.”
“No problem. We’ll swing by the house and get a few things on our way over. See you then.”
“But shouldn’t — ” Julia began, then realized Lindsay had already cut off the transmission. She would have preferred to speak to Miles herself, but if Lindsay wanted to handle it, fine.
If they weren’t there at the designated time…then Julia might have a few choice words on the subject of Lindsay’s presumption. In the meantime, though, she had other things to worry about. After some deliberation, she’d decided she’d leave Shawn in charge during her absence. Taking him along could have gotten awkward, since she had absolutely no idea where things stood with him. And everyone liked and trusted Shawn, so he was a natural choice to watch over the town while she was gone.
In addition to Miles and Lindsay, Julia thought she’d bring Brent Sanderson with her. He wasn’t the world’s best shot, but he was Shawn’s partner-in-crime in the motor pool. If, God forbid, anything went wrong with the Suburban during their round trip, Brent should be able to fix it. The last two members of the party would be Nancy Kovacs, the most experienced person on the Los Alamos security detail, and Eric Gold, who didn’t look all that physically intimidating but who happened to be a black belt in taekwondo. Not that she really thought they’d be facing the kind of threat that would require true hand-to-hand combat, but Eric was also a crack shot…and Nancy’s current boyfriend. If nothing else, Julia figured they might enjoy a night out in a Santa Fe hotel room.
Everyone assembled in the parking lot at the municipal center at a little past six. The drive would take about forty minutes, more or less, but even at the end of September, it would be some time before full dark arrived. Plenty of time to get safely to Santa Fe.
Miles Odekirk looked less than thrilled at being dragged away from his research. However, he didn’t offer any protests, but only shoved the duffle bag he carried in with the rest of the backpacks and duffles and overnight bags everyone else had dumped in the rear cargo area, while Lindsay stood by, holding one of the djinn-repelling devices in her hand. There wasn’t much conversation; everyone knew why they were there.
Julia got in behind the wheel, with Brent taking shotgun and everyone else getting into the second- and third-row seats. And after that they were off, driving along the mountain road that wound down out of Los Alamos to join up with the highway that led to Santa Fe.
This would be the first time she’d actually left the town since she’d come back in the spring to assume her role as reluctant leader of the community. She’d been so consumed with making sure everything ran smoothly that she’d never volunteered to go on one of the scavenging missions in Española, although after a few months she did feel as if she was beginning to get a little stir-crazy. Albuquerque was her former hometown, and she wasn’t used to being cooped up in a place that really didn’t have very many resources. Also, the mountains that sheltered them at times felt almost intimidating, as if they were crowding in from all sides. Back in the wintertime, she hadn’t noticed as much, but that could have simply been because the weather hadn’t been very conducive to travel, and she’d been too busy focusing on all the busywork Margolis kept producing.
It did feel good to get out on the open road — and it was open, thanks to her crews expending a good deal of effort so the highway wouldn’t remain littered with the abandoned vehicles of Heat victims who’d succumbed to the disease even as they drove frantically to get away from it. From here it would be pretty much a straight shot down into the heart of Santa Fe, where the U.S. Marshals’ building was located.
And where Zahrias would be waiting for her.
Waiting for your team, she reminded herself. Most likely he would be far more interested in hearing Miles Odekirk’s insights than talking to her.
She wondered who else would be there; there were a few people she’d come to know while she lived among them so briefly before going back to Los Alamos. Probably not Jessica and Jace; the house they lived in was a good ways outside town, and Zahrias would have no reason to call them in on this matter. Unlike Miles, they most likely wouldn’t be able to offer any particular insights as to how Margolis had managed to escape.
Eventually Julia came to the turnoff that led to Santa Fe’s downtown. In the back seat, Lindsay fiddled with the device, shutting it down so it wouldn’t affect the djinn they were about to meet.
Julia’s eyes flickered from side to side as she drove, trying to take in the changed aspect of the town, which once had bustled with tourists and residents alike. Did the djinn keep the museums and shops open, so they might amuse themselves with looking at relics of a world long gone? She recalled that when she’d last been here, some of the stores had been open for people to take what they needed to furnish their houses, but the museums had been locked up, quiet and dark. The memory disturbed her for some reason, and she tried to put it aside. At least Santa Fe still had life and people, wasn’t dead and empty like almost every other town on the face of the planet.
But not Los Alamos, she thought then with some pride. Getting that community going might have been Richard Margolis’ one and only good deed. For all she knew, he’d done it for selfish reasons, to have someplace where he could be master, but the fact remained that the town was doing well, thanks to the protection Miles Odekirk’s devices provided and the resilience of its inhabitants. They might be mere mortals, but they’d done well for themselves.
The streets around them now were empty. Julia supposed the djinn didn’t have much need for cars when they could simply “blink” themselves from place to place, and maybe they did the same thing for their Chosen. She did notice a few people out on the sidewalks, probably enjoying the last of the bright afternoon before it was time to go in for their evening meals. Had Phillip, the man who’d acted as chef up in Taos when the group was sequestered in a resort there, opened a restaurant where humans and djinn could mingle and be social?
So many questions. But she wasn’t here to simply satisfy her idle curiosity.
She pulled the Suburban into one of the spots in front of the U.S. Marshals’ building, a handsome stone structure with a sort of obelisk standing guard out front. For some reason she’d been expecting a modern glass building, but she should have known nothing so out of place would have been allowed near Santa Fe’s historic downtown.
As soon as everyone got out of the SUV, the front doors to the building opened, and Zahrias and a man Julia didn’t recognize emerged. Not that she really had eyes for anyone except the djinn leader. He wore his usual garb of an open silk robe over his full silken pants, that robe revealing the sculpted muscles of his chest and stomach.
Julia swallowed, then lifted her head and approached him and his party, while her own companions trailed along behind her. Vanity had made her touch up the light cosmetics she wore and make sure her hair was brushed, but if sh
e’d changed out of the jeans and T-shirt and leather jacket she was wearing earlier that afternoon, someone might have noticed. Besides, she doubted that Zahrias cared what she looked like.
“Welcome,” he said. “Was it a smooth journey?”
“Yes, thank you,” she replied. Somehow his formality made this first encounter after so many months a little easier. “Clear roads all the way.”
At that moment, Miles nudged his way forward, Lindsay at his elbow. “I’d like to see the cell — ”
Something that might have been a hint of a smile pulled at the corner of Zahrias’ mouth. “Of course, Dr. Odekirk. Let us show you.” He turned toward Julia. “It is rather confined down there, however, so if some of your people could remain up here — ”
“Sure,” she said. “Miles and Lindsay can come with us, and everyone else can keep an eye on the Suburban.”
One of the djinn’s eyebrows lifted. “I assure you, your vehicle is quite safe here.”
“I’m sure it is,” she replied, trying to ignore the unwelcome thrill that went through her as Zahrias’ dark eyes met hers. “But it’ll give them something to do.”
Brent Sanderson shot her the side-eye at that remark, but he didn’t say anything, and Nancy and Eric seemed content to stand on the steps and watch the sun set. So Julia followed Zahrias inside as his sole companion fell in with them.
“This is David,” the djinn leader said, indicating the mortal who was with him, an extremely good-looking man of about twenty-five, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. “He was the one on duty when Margolis disappeared.”
David obviously wasn’t too happy to be introduced that way. His jaw tightened, and he gave a reluctant nod. “I was gone a minute, max.”
“I don’t think anyone’s blaming you,” Julia said, making sure she sounded calm and composed, even though part of her wanted to scream at him for going to take a bathroom break and thus giving Margolis the opening he needed.
They took the elevator —the electricity in Santa Fe seemed to be functioning normally, with none of the rationing her people were forced to use in Los Alamos — and descended several floors. Julia was beginning to wonder just how deeply the jail cell in question was buried when the elevator finally stopped and its doors opened on a bleak hallway painted institutional gray.
“This way,” Zahrias said, leading them to a short corridor that terminated in a single chamber.
Looking at it, Julia couldn’t help but be reminded of Hannibal Lecter’s cell in The Silence of the Lambs — this room was also fronted by glass, not bars, and larger than she’d imagined. The similarity ended there, however, because otherwise it looked sleek and modern, the bed with its flat mattress somehow attached to one wall, the basin and toilet set up in the same way. On the bed was a thick abandoned paperback, although she couldn’t make out the title from where she stood.
On the wall next to the cell was a panel with a few blinking lights and a surface of smooth black glass. She guessed that must be the biometric scanner.
Miles went to it at once, then put his thumb on the glass. The cell door opened smoothly.
“Hey,” David said in injured tones. “I thought only Zahrias or one of us four guards could open that thing.”
“I programmed my thumbprint into it when I was testing the device,” Miles responded, sounding somewhat testy.
Despite the situation, Julia couldn’t help grinning. “Well, mystery solved. Miles did it.”
Zahrias shook his head, as if to show that he wasn’t amused by her comment, and Miles said indignantly, “I most certainly did not. I was working in my lab, thirty-five miles away from here. Lindsay can attest to that fact.”
Lindsay looked like she was trying to stifle her own grin. “I think she was kidding, Miles.”
“That is not something you should joke about.” He narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and then transferred his attention to Zahrias. “At any rate, it seems the biometric scanner is working normally. Let us inspect the door mechanism. Lindsay, if you could — ”
She moved forward at his gesture. “What do you need?”
“I’m going to open and close the door several more times, using the biometric scanner. Keep an eye out for anything that looks out of alignment, indicating that the door might have been tampered with.”
She nodded, then crossed her arms and waited while Miles engaged the scanner once more. The cell door slid open smoothly. Julia couldn’t see anything wrong with it, but she’d be the first to admit that she was no expert.
“I’m not noticing anything,” Lindsay said after this operation was performed several more times.
“Neither am I.” Miles pushed his glasses up on his nose and turned back to the watching group. “So if the door wasn’t tampered with, then the most logical explanation is that Captain Margolis had an accomplice of some kind.”
“If you’re suggesting — ” David spluttered, hands balling into fists as he shot an angry glare at the scientist.
Julia hoped that Zahrias would contain the situation, because David looked like he could pound Miles into the ground like a tent stake. Apparently the djinn leader was having the same thought, because he stepped forward and said sternly, “That is a theory I cannot support. All of the guards, both human and djinn, who were set to watch over Margolis owed their loyalty only to this community. They would have no reason to do such a thing.”
During the confrontation, Lindsay had said nothing, apparently confident that Zahrias wouldn’t let matters get too out of hand. Julia remembered that Lindsay had spent a good deal of time around him, since she had been Chosen back then and had lived with the djinn community for months. She must have had a fairly accurate idea of what Zahrias would and would not put up with.
Now she said, “All right, maybe not any of the guards, but what about someone else here in Santa Fe? Maybe they could have reprogrammed the lock.”
“Who?” Zahrias inquired, looking almost amused. “You lived among us for some time, Lindsay. You were the only one of our Chosen with any true scientific or mechanical aptitude. Perhaps you would have the skill to do such a thing, but can you say the same of any of your former compatriots?”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “No. And actually, I don’t think even I could have done it. That is, I watched Miles set it up, so maybe now I could manage the job, but before that, trying to figure it out on my own?” Her shoulders lifted. “No way.”
“So does that put us back to square one?” Julia asked. Frustration had seeped into her tone, but right then she didn’t much care.
“No,” Miles said, returning his attention to the cell. “The answer has to be here somewhere.”
“And if anyone can find it, you will,” Zahrias said. “But we are coming to the time of our evening meal, and perhaps this is something you can revisit in the morning. Surely you would like to be shown where you will be staying tonight.”
“Later,” Miles replied with an irritated wave of his hand. Lindsay looked exasperated, but clearly she knew better than to bother contradicting him. “Have someone bring us a tray or something.”
Once again Zahrias’ mouth quirked. “If that is your wish. But surely the rest of your party should be accommodated — ”
“Yes, thank you,” Julia put in quickly, before Miles could start making decisions for the rest of the team. “I don’t want to interrupt the other three guards if they’re having dinner, but if I could talk to them tomorrow morning?”
“Of course. That was already my plan.”
She should have thought of that. Yes, she needed to speak with them, but making them delay their evening meal or otherwise interrupt their evening wouldn’t put Margolis back in his cell. Those conversations could wait a few hours.
Besides, her stomach was reminding her that she hadn’t really eaten lunch today, only a few slices of toast and half an apple around ten in the morning. Best to let Miles continue with his investigation — although she doubted he would turn up anythi
ng — while the rest of them got something to eat.
“Thank you, Zahrias,” she said. “Then please, show us where we’ll be staying.”
* * *
He had chosen the La Fonda hotel because of its central location and because he knew Julia and several of her party were familiar with it. They seemed more than pleased with the group of rooms he had secured for them, and perhaps a little surprised that they should be ready on such short notice.
“I really wasn’t expecting this,” Julia told him as the hard-faced blonde woman who had accompanied her went into the room she’d been assigned — accompanied by a trim, compact man whose calm, appraising eyes told Zahrias he was not quite as innocuous as he seemed. A warrior, like the woman he was with. Nancy, that was what Julia had called her.
“It is the least we could do,” Zahrias said. It was more difficult than he’d thought, to stand here next to her and force himself not to gaze too long at the fullness of her mouth, or the way the light seemed to shimmer along the lengths of her unbound hair. She was dressed plainly, but the slightly oversized leather jacket she wore couldn’t quite hide the curves of her body. “You would not have had to come here at all, were it not for our negligence.”
“That might be a bit harsh — ” she began, but he shook his head.
“Yes, negligence, even if it was not intentional. These days we do not dine in a group, as we did back in Taos, but Phillip has come here to the hotel to prepare a meal for you so you may all eat in the dining room downstairs.”
Julia nodded. Was that a flicker of disappointment he saw in her clear blue-gray eyes, the color of the morning sky just before the sun rose? No, he must be imagining things. He could see no reason why she would be disappointed to be so accommodated, unless…
…unless she had wished to dine with him alone.
He pushed that thought aside. There could be nothing between them. She had her duty to the people of Los Alamos, just as he had his duty to the djinn and Chosen who lived in Santa Fe.
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