by A. L. Knorr
Snarling, he twisted and bent at the waist as I yanked him toward me. The shirt ripped and then came off his body like a plastic casing pulled from a sausage. Vaulting away from me with a cry of genuine horror, he sprinted to the end of the street and turned the corner.
Dropping his shirt, I followed, pouring on speed only to have to pull back before I barreled into a family pushing a baby carriage. I skirted them, not worried that I couldn’t catch Dante, there was no way he could outrun me.
He ran through the crowd ahead, dodging and weaving and sending terrified glances over his shoulder. I ran after him, feet light on the pavement, holding back but keeping close enough that I could grab him as soon as we cleared this crowd.
Dante ran with one hand jammed in his pocket, pulled something out and for a moment my heart went into my throat thinking he had a small gun. But though the sun glinted on metal in his hand, it was not a weapon but a fob with a silver key.
With a final venomous look, he turned another corner as I wove my way through a group of teenage girls taking selfies with the bay in the background. As I rounded the corner the sound of a scooter engine revving met my ears. The black Vespa jumped forward and its back tire screamed on the pavement as Dante took off up the street.
I clenched my teeth as fire surged down my legs and I took off after Dante like a sprinter off the starting block. My body surged forward, arms and legs pumping as I closed the gap to Dante’s back wheel. My eyes felt hot and swollen and my vision sharpened and narrowed on my target. I stretched out a hand to grab the rail behind his seat.
With a glance over his shoulder, his face transformed and he shrieked, sounding more like a young girl than a grown man. His back tire screamed as the scooter surged forward. He lurched out of reach as he careened wildly, narrowly avoiding a dumpster.
Power detonated in my hips, knees and ankles as I flew over the dumpster like a hurdler, front leg outstretched. Cushioning my landing as I reached for the swerving Vespa, my foot hit a divot in the pavement, throwing me off balance. Knowing I was going down, I tucked my head and rolled into a dive. The buzz of the scooter’s engine grew loud in one ear as I came out of the roll and back to my feet. My tumble meant Dante gained another several feet. Cursing under my breath as he angled around a corner, I poured on more speed, this time heedless of the group of tourists who scattered before us, bleating like a flock of frightened lambs.
Someone screamed as I surged by, single-minded in my pursuit, someone else yelled in Italian, yet another uttered a stream of incredulous epithets. The group fell away behind and the street opened up. Dante pushed the scooter faster as my footfalls came closer and closer together. My breathing turned labored but my detonations did not cease, asking more and more from my system. I became aware of a vague wonderment belonging to the Saxony who was watching all of this with a type of dismayed amazement, even as my speed increased. How much of this could my heart and lungs take?
A one-word answer that was not an answer but meant I would not stop became a repeat in my mind.
Gage. Gage. Gage.
Ahead of me and trying to get away was the one person who knew where Gage was. If I didn’t get him in my hands now and force him to tell me by any means necessary—and yes, I knew that in my current emotional state I would not hesitate to inflict fire and pain, even if it meant I’d be haunted by it later—I would not likely get another chance. Nero was not here to protect Dante, and even my promise to Enzo seemed distant and unimportant.
The black Vespa’s rider bent low over the handlebars and the sound of the engine grew high-pitched and tinny as the machine complained that too much was being asked of it.
Sucking in breath but amazed at the continued power the fire was pouring into my muscles, I closed the gap.
Flashing another wide-eyed look back, Dante took the bend up ahead at a dangerous speed. The Vespa skidded and he almost lost control, scraping the front bumper along the brick wall of the narrow alley.
Lest I make the same misjudgement in my pursuit, I leapt for the wall and ran along it like a trick-biker rides a steeply banked turn. Another moment and I was back on the ground and in pursuit, but my laboring heart sank as I realized where this road led.
Straight onto Nuovo Marina, the busy, fast-flowing road running parallel to the bay. I could not continue into heavy traffic without risking many lives.
Dante knew it too and used the slight downhill ahead of him to add more speed. Recklessly, without any regard for oncoming traffic, Dante took the straightest path he could.
Straight through the patrons sitting at tables in front of a patisserie on the corner. Screams pierced the air as the buzzing scooter bore down upon them. Tables and chairs were overturned as people dove to get out of the way. Dante’s Vespa plowed through the melee. He skidded and almost fell as he narrowly avoided a table rolling along its edge like an oversized, thin tire.
My legs and knees pumped like pistons, working hard to bring my body to a halt. My bare feet slipped on grit and I landed on my butt and skidded, coming to a bruised stop in front of an overturned chair and a pile of broken ceramics.
Dante’s scooter was already out of sight, swallowed by the flow of traffic.
Knees shaking and fire retreating, I got to my feet and helped a frightened old lady who’d half fallen and been shoved against the wall. A patisserie employee emerged from the open front door carrying a tray of pastries and drinks to stare wide-eyed at the wreckage.
Shame-faced, although no one seemed to realize that the chaos was partly my fault, I began to help the patrons and staff right the furniture and clean up the mess. Aside from a few scraped palms and bruised hips, no one was seriously hurt.
With a last sour look at the traffic, I began to jog back toward the piazza where Tomio would be losing his mind with worry, dreading the tongue-lashing I knew I was in for.
Seventeen
Dissention In The Ranks
I found Tomio standing beside a garbage can in the piazza. He spotted me as soon as I entered the piazza. His shoulders dropped with relief, but he didn’t call to me. I crossed the piazza, wearing my flip flops after finding them laying in the street where I’d left them, and stopped by him. He held no ice cream and was white around the mouth. I almost made a joke about the two untouched ice cream cups melting on top of the pile of rubbish to try and lighten him up, but I’d never seen Tomio’s face so stiff nor his eyes snapping like this. He stared as I approached, the bag containing the radio and my cell dangled from one fisted hand. I waited for him to talk and when he didn’t, a flicker of dread passed through me. I knew he’d be upset, but had underestimated just how upset.
“I am sorry,” I murmured.
Tomio turned and stalked stiffly in the direction of our villa and I scampered to catch up.
“I thought I saw Dante,” I explained, feeling my tummy turn over. Why wasn’t he saying anything? “I had to make sure and I was right, it was him.”
Tomio shot me a glare that might have turned me to ash if I wasn’t a mage. His bronzed complexion looked green, his generous mouth pulled down in an angry gash. He looked away like he couldn’t stand the sight of me and turned up our street, picking up the pace. I almost had to run to keep up.
“I’m sorry, I wanted to come back for you, but if I had I would have lost him for sure.”
Tomio didn’t respond, just continued to stalk in the direction of our safe-house.
“Of course, I lost him anyway, but there was a chance I could have gotten information out of him about Gage.”
Tomio sped up, the bag swinging wildly at his side.
“I’m sorry I frightened you, really. I am.” I reached for his arm but pulled back. If he snatched his arm away, it might undo me. I scrambled to make him understand.
“What would you have done differently if you had seen him and there was no time to do anything but pursue? This is our friend Gage we’re talking about. His life hangs in the balance.”
Tomio rooted the villa
’s keys out of his pocket and jammed the oversized iron thing into the lock. The bolts clicked back and he heaved the heavy door open like it was made of parchment.
“Tomio. Talk to me.” Following him to our front door, real dismay settled into my heart. I’d never seen him like this.
He unlocked our front door, strode into the entrance, set the bag on a side table, almost knocking over a glass statue of a woman carrying a basket on her hip in the process. Heading straight for the bathroom, he slammed the door shut. A moment later, I heard the sound of retching.
Horrified, I stood outside the door, not sure what to do. “Tomio? Are you okay?”
His answer was more retching, then the flush of the toilet.
“Was it me? Or something you ate? I’m really hoping it was the cheese toastie you had this morning.”
The sink’s tap came on and I heard the sound of Tomio swishing water and spitting. The sound of a vigorous brushing of teeth followed that, then another flush of the toilet, another rinse and spit.
“Tomio?” I tapped gingerly on the bathroom door with a fingernail. “I’m really sorry.”
The door opened. Tomio stood there with wet hair standing up in spikes and two red circles flushing his cheeks. The glassy black orbs of his eyes settled on mine and he croaked, “I forgive you, you idiot.”
I almost burst into tears. Instead I rushed at him, wrapping my arms around him. He made a surprised grunt but returned my hug, turning his head away so he didn’t breathe into my face.
“Easy,” he muttered.
I am an idiot, I thought. Gage had been yanked from the street like he was a little kid, leaving me all alone and feeling panicked and helpless. It didn’t matter that I was Burned, I was not immortal and I could make mistakes. If something had happened to me, what would Tomio have done? He would have been left in the position that Gage’s kidnapping had left me in.
We stood there hugging for several minutes, until Tomio began to hiccup and needed more water.
“Promise me you’ll never do that to me again,” he said when he’d taken three big swallows from a cup in the kitchen, a hand over his flat belly. “We have to stick together. You can’t just go running off without telling me where you’re going. We’re partners.”
I nodded, feeling dumber by the second, and still a little shocked at the violence of Tomio’s reaction.
“We’re all alone here, with no help from the Agency. God knows what Basil is dealing with back there in Britain, but I know that he would come if he could. Things are bad, Saxony. Don’t you realize that?”
A spark of anger. “Of course I do.”
“The future of the remaining mages hangs over our heads, not just Gage. If something had happened to you, it would have landed on my shoulders alone.”
I crossed my arms. “I do know that, that’s why I went after Dante. It was a chance to force him to tell us where Gage is. In the moment, it seemed like the right thing to do. I didn’t know it was going to make you vomit.”
He wiped his mouth. “It’s a reaction I’ve had since I was kid. It only happens when I get really scared. I can fight it most of the time, keep things down, as long as I don’t try to talk or explain myself until the nausea passes. It’s been a long time since I’ve been that freaked out.”
“How did you ever make it through all those fights then?”
He shot me a withering glare tinged with affection. “It doesn’t happen when I’m frightened for myself, you numpty. It happens when someone I love is in grave danger and I’m not able to help them.”
Someone I love.
The words echoed in my ears like a call into a canyon, then hung in the air between us. Tomio’s eyes took me in, so big and dark and beautiful I thought I might fall into them if I didn’t look away.
I looked at the floor.
My laptop dinged and the screen lit up.
Tomio and I met each other at the table, bumping shoulders as we read the text that came in from Ms. Shepherd.
N LANDED AT NAP 13:35, IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
A photo loaded and the pixels cleared. The shot had been taken from a security camera hanging in a high corner of a terminal building. A jet plane that looked a bit like the one Targa’s shipping company used stood on the tarmac with its passenger door lifted and locked open. A man in a baseball cap and dark glasses had been stepping down onto the tarmac when the image was snapped. An airport worker stood off to one side, along with two security guards. A metal detector hung from one guard’s hand.
Tomio and I moved closer to the screen.
“Is that him? How do they know? He’s too far away,” Tomio asked, giving voice to the precise questions I had.
Another photo loaded, this one blurry but growing clearer by the second as the pixels refined. This image was taken by the same camera, presumably after the security check since Nero was closer to the camera and the guards were now behind him. He looked to the side and had a toothpick clamped between his teeth, which made him look like he was grinning nastily. This time there was no mistaking his identity. He was the same man we had seen in the batch of photos Mehmet had shared with us.
“It’s him,” Tomio and I spoke in tandem.
We looked at one another. My pulse was racing. Would Nero think there was anything fishy in Janet’s behavior? Would she get the secret out of him? If she did, would she get it in time to make a difference? What would Tomio and I be required to do once we had Nero’s next move?
“Why do I suddenly feel like this is a crazy plan?” Tomio asked, tugging at his hair again.
“We need help,” I replied, agreeing with him.
He looked pale and thoughtful. “We can’t rely on the Agency, but...”
“But, what?”
He raised his eyes. “What about Ryan?”
I snorted. “I already told him Gage got taken. He didn’t believe me. Besides, how can we trust him? He’s buddy-buddy with Nero now.”
“We don’t know that for sure. It looks bad, I agree, but blood is thicker than water. Ryan is ruthless, but if we can convince him that Gage really is in trouble, he won’t turn his back on his twin.”
“You have a lot more faith in him than I do. That’s one Wendig I’ve been lied to and manipulated by too many times to reach out and ask for help.”
“Even for Gage’s sake?”
I threw up my hands, exasperated. “I told you, he doesn’t believe me. Basil said that even his parents can’t get a hold of him.”
“But—” Tomio pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and woke the screen, scrolling through his photos and videos. He selected the one we took of Nero’s subterranean lair and of Janet. “He might believe this.”
It took me a second to realize what he was saying. If we sent Ryan the video to prove that we met Janet and we’d been to Nero’s place, Ryan should figure I hadn’t been lying.
But there was another problem, in my mind. “Ryan is loyal to Nero now. If we alert Ryan that we’ve met Janet and know Nero’s secret location, our cover could be blown.”
I could see from his expression that Tomio disagreed. “I know you and Ryan have had your differences—”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
“But he’s Gage’s twin. He would never throw Gage under the bus.”
“Why not?” I shot back. “He’s done it before. He heavily drugged his own brother to get him out of the way when he tricked me into helping him Burn.”
Tomio sliced a hand through the air. “A horrible, rotten thing to do. But aside from a hangover when he woke up, Gage was fine. I still believe that Ryan would never intentionally hurt Gage.”
I gaped. “You’re mixing the brothers up. It’s Gage who would never do anything to hurt Ryan. He’s loyal to a fault. Ryan can’t even spell the word.”
Tomio frowned. “I think you’re wrong, and if we don’t try to get Ryan in on this then we’re depriving ourselves of our most powerful ally.”
I felt my eyes grow warm. “Are you willi
ng to stake Gage’s life on Ryan’s loyalty? Because he hasn’t exhibited any in the past.”
Tomio didn’t hesitate. “Yes. I’m telling you, Ryan has made a lot of bad calls in his life, but he will never betray his brother. My bet is that he was out of the country before Dante and Nero made their nefarious little deal and he doesn’t even know that they have Gage.”
“And if you’re wrong, our only chance to save Gage and stop Nero will be blown.”
He straightened and spoke louder. “I’m not wrong.”
My face flushed with the heat of frustration. How could Tomio not see what was so obvious? My volume increased. “I think you are, and I’ve had more run-ins with Ryan than you have. I know how his mind works. Nothing will get between him and his thirst for power, not even his own family. He stole from his own parents, don’t forget.”
Tomio spread his hands. “Something they didn’t care about and couldn’t use. It was stuffed in the back of a seacan for over a decade.”
My mouth dropped open. “I can’t believe you’re defending him.”
Tomio let his head fall forward and took a breath, then looked at me. “I’m not defending him or saying that what he did was right. It clearly wasn’t. All I’m saying is that stealing that orb from his parents’ collection is one thing, letting Gage lose his fire or die is another thing entirely. That is a line he won’t cross.”
“I’m not willing to take that chance.” I crossed my arms and let my eyes blaze with fire.
“Are you pulling rank?” Tomio asked, eyes wide.
I flushed but couldn’t deny it. “Yes. We disagree and we have to have someone in charge to make decisions. I won’t compromise this operation by bringing a viper into our nest.”
Tomio looked at me with some wonder, his mouth twitched with humor. “Wow. Operation? You sound like a real agent. Is it wrong I’m turned on right now?”
