Quiet, dark, and alone.
All the better to barbeque you, mother fucker.
If there was one thing I hated, it was being ambushed. The other thing I hated was being hungry, and if you added in the now-painful press of the gun against my vertebrae, this guy was going for the things-Andy-hates trifecta.
My only question was—rare, medium, or well-done?
Fire danced at my fingertips, illuminating the concrete, when something ice-cold was slapped on the side of my neck. My fire died as if it had been doused by a bucket of water. This fucker had come prepared.
Magical suppression units were an urban legend, or so I’d thought. They used electronic impulses to interfere with the way your natural magic worked, and shut it down for as long as they contacted your skin. But now that one was attached to me, I realized they worked exactly as advertised. My magic drained away, leaving me weak and shaky. Since our roles had just flip flopped, I felt it prudent to cooperate.
“Now you can turn around,” he told me, his cool, monotone indicating he did this on a regular basis. “I’m not going to hurt you. Not if you answer my questions.” If I could see his eyes, I’d imagine they grew colder, like his voice. “Truthfully, that is.”
I nodded, my options dwindling down to just one. Survive.
Then we’ll barbeque the fucker, my bad side urged. The guy was bigger than I’d given him credit for, with bunched up shoulders that indicated he spent hours in the gym. The gun pointing at my chest was standard military issue, outfitted with a long silencer, and I assumed the serial number had been filed off. There was no doubt in my mind that after I answered his questions, he’d double tap me and leave me here.
Let’s postpone that as long as we can, my bad side reasoned.
“I know you were upstairs and met with Vanguard. Describe his security protocol to me, in detail.”
Totally not what I expected, and an easier task than I’d hoped for. I opened my mouth, intending to lay it all out, but felt a sudden, inexplicable protectiveness toward Gabriel. “He has armed guards.” Armed and at the ready with half-eaten ham sandwiches.
“How many?”
“At least seven that I counted,” I told him, pretending to think. “But I wasn’t specifically looking at his security detail, so there could be more.”
“What was his surveillance like? How many layers of security did you go through?”
Suddenly, Gabriel’s paranoia became understandable. If this guy boosted me from the main thoroughfare just because I’d met with Gabriel, then maybe he had good reason to be overprotective of his trade secrets.
“A digi-scanner, two facial recognition protocols, and a really mean secretary.” I threw in the secretary on a whim, figuring everyone had one, right?
“Secretary, huh?” The guy paused. Maybe he was thinking, but who knew. I sure couldn’t tell, behind those pervy sunglasses. “That’s something different. How many employees did you see?”
“I don’t know. There were cubicles all over the place.” Part of me should have been aghast at how easy the lies came, the other part just shrugged. If this asshole believed the bullshit, that was his problem, not mine.
“What were you meeting about?”
“I’m a student at NYU, I was looking into VC as an internship possibility.”
“Seriously?” He scoffed, “You don’t look like a likely candidate.”
“So says you,” I retorted, starting to shiver from having my magic sucked out of me. “Gabriel said I was a quick study in system hardware… data coding… and lawful tarrasque… strategy.” As soon as the DnD bullshit tumbled out of my mouth, I knew I’d made a mistake. I was stalling and failing.
“This was an interview?” The gun rose a bit higher, that long black barrel steady as a rock. “I figured you were making a delivery. Pizza… or something.”
“Do I seriously look like a pizza delivery girl?”
His silence answered that question with a resounding yes. “Did he have personal protection?”
What, like condoms? This guy was seriously out to get Gabriel, and even though I didn’t have skin in this game, his dedication was starting to piss me off. “I didn’t see anyone… except the seven guards I mentioned before. We talked, I answered his questions to the best of my ability, and then I left. Pretty simple process, if you ask me.”
“Anything else you want to add?”
My knees were giving out as my energy flagged. I didn’t know if this guy realized I was an Elemental, or had slapped the suppressor on me as a precaution, but the illegal device was sucking me dry, leaving me near-incoherent. Between my weakness and the gun, I couldn’t see a way out of this situation that didn’t end up with me dead.
“It might help if I knew what you were looking for. Specifically.” God, who knew that word has so many s’s in it? “I could remember something important.” Before my eyes, the alley, the bad guy, and the gun began to blur together.
“Fat chance, bitch.” Even in my compromised state, I clearly saw the gun rise incrementally, stopping at just the right height so the slug would hit me dead center in the chest.
16
Focusing on the little hole at the end of the silencer—how did the bullet even fit through—I searched for a means to prolong my admittedly miserable life. Making a move to rip the suppressor off my neck wouldn’t help, he’d shoot me for sure, and it would take precious seconds, possibly minutes, for me to recoup my powers. Running was out, since my legs were jelly, and given the way my eyesight was failing, I was close to going down anyhow.
Right on cue, I tipped forward, the gun barrel disappearing from my line of sight, along with the bad guy as I hit the ground.
Way to go out, McHale. Face down in a city I hate with every fiber of my being, immobilized by a cheap, black-market suppressor.
But miracles of miracles, I dimly heard shouting, and pushing up to my elbows, glimpsed a set of too-bright red flats, followed by shiny, custom-made shoes. Italian, if I knew my loafers. I rolled onto my back, garbage and gravel crunching under my shoulders and dug my fingers under the edge of the suppressor. Tearing the fucker off, magic flowed instantly back into me, filling me up in a painful, hot rush.
“Told you she has a habit of getting onto trouble.” If I could have stood up, I would have punched Dawson in the throat. “She’s been alone for what… half an hour?”
“Did you see where he went?” Gabriel asked Dawson, since I was drooling out of the corner of my mouth.
“Nope, he was too fast,” she answered cheerily. “Strange though, that she was only down here a minute before something happened. I’m telling you, she’s like a bad penny.”
My brain was trying to make sense of that when an arm worked its way between my shoulders and the street, then I was eased to a sitting position. I glimpsed actual concern in Gabriel’s eyes, before his face hardened back into that perma-suspicious expression he wore so well. “What happened—did you get mugged?”
“Yeah, let’s call it that,” I grumbled, pretty sure that being picked up off the asphalt was a new low for me. “Or we can say I now totally understand your need for secrecy and security.”
“What are you talking about?” Gabriel growled, his arm becoming my anchor as I swayed. “Are you saying this had something to do with me?”
“He wanted details on your security.” My voice sounded off—hoarse, like I’d been running. Which I definitely hadn’t. “Somehow, he knew I’d seen you. Been up to your office.”
I had to hand it to Vanguard, he didn’t let me go, his arm steady as he helped me to my feet, bracing me when my knees threatened to give out. I was grateful and a little impressed. A lesser man might have run upstairs to double-check their security protocols. But not Gabriel.
“Let’s get you out of here,” he said as we made for the service entrance, Dawson trailing behind, mumbling about the dangers of being important and successful.
I didn’t say anything. Not on the way to the elevator, not i
n the elevator itself. Not as we passed the security guard, now on his second sandwich. Nor as we passed through the doors, where Gabriel did another quick dance with his fingers, and a red grid of light covered the walls inside his office.
It wasn’t until the doors closed, the inside of the room glowing with that strange light, that I finally felt safe. Even with my powers restored, there was a chink in my armor, and as my hand closed around the suppressor, I knew I wouldn’t feel whole again until I caught the man who’d put this on me and personally kicked his ass.
Gabriel steered me to the nearest chair and left, returning with a bottle of water. Unscrewing the lid, he offered it to me with one word. “Drink.”
I did just that, while Gabriel pulled up a virtual screen that showed the perimeter of the building. While I watched, he replayed the feed, stopping at the point where the big guy steered me into the alleyway.
“Ever seen him before?” he asked, his eyes on the screen, but the question directed at me.
“No. But he was military… ex-military, in my opinion. Had a Darkwing logo tattooed prominently on his neck, like a badge of honor. Didn’t even try hiding it.”
It was unnerving to watch yourself being abducted and questioned, and I winced, despite myself, when he slapped the suppressor to the side of my neck. The spot was still tender, and I’d probably have a spectacular bruise tomorrow.
Gabriel hit “stop” and reached out his hand toward me. I dropped the device into his waiting palm. For such a small thing, it packed a punch.
“Black market, but local, from the looks of it.” He turned it over, careful not to come into contact with the slick, shiny side that interfaced with living tissue. “Definitely military grade materials, though,” he mused thoughtfully, tracing a network of wiring along one edge. “You had this on for how long?”
“Less than five minutes, but I got a little groggy at the end, so my count might be off.”
“Not as fast as it could have been. You were lucky. If he’d programmed this correctly, the device would have dropped you within seconds.”
“He had questions. My guess is, he set it to give himself time to ask them.”
“Questions about me. About my operations.” Gabriel’s lips tightened, but other than that, his face remained smooth. He wasn’t surprised. Pissed, but not surprised, which meant this had happened before.
I nodded to the screen suspended in midair, in the middle of the room. “Replay the feed and see for yourself.” Despite my best intentions, I leaned in, my arms on my knees, equally curious and appalled.
A second later the video began. There was a good reason Vanguard Technology was taking over the tech world. Gabriel’s audio quality was perfect, the big guy’s distinctive growl coming through clearly.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Not if you answer my questions. Truthfully, that is.”
Gabriel glanced at me for a second, then turned back to the video. Up on the screen, bigger than life, I watched myself nod, while I reached up and rubbed my neck, still feeling the rawness left behind.
I should have made my move then, before the suppressor took effect, while I still had some of my magic left. I’d been frozen for those few precious seconds, waffling about surviving. Then roasting him, my bad side reminded me. I watched myself size him up, while I was doing a repeat performance from this angle. The guy was built, the perfect human killing machine, but this second time, I noticed a list to his left side, and that arm seemed… stiff.
“Run it back to the beginning, will you?” I asked Gabriel, forgetting this was his turf. “I want to see something.” Without a word, Gabriel ran the feed backward, stopping at the moment we entered the alley.
Watching how he moved, the guy was definitely favoring his left side. And not because he was dominant-right. His arm and leg moved awkwardly, although I remembered he sure didn’t have any difficulty steering me.
“I know you were upstairs and met with Vanguard. Describe his security protocol to me, in detail.” His words seemed, for lack of a better word, scripted, now that I was listening to them over again.
“He has armed guards.” God, why did I always sound so weird on a recording? As if I’d never actually heard my real voice before. Behind me, Gabriel made a noise somewhere between a cough and a laugh.
“How many?”
“At least seven that I counted.”
“What was his tech surveillance? How many layers of tech security did you go through?”
Now came the part where I started making shit up. “A digi-scanner, two facial recognition protocols, and a really mean secretary.”
I turned to Gabriel. “I figured you have a secretary stashed around here, somewhere. As far as the rest…”
“Pretty good at thinking on your feet. Especially under stress.”
Dawson scoffed. “If she would have just stayed up here, all of this would be avoided. We’d have parted ways, and I’d be heading home. My other home,” she clarified. “Not the cover you blew when you brought two Darkwing squads to my front door.”
Behind us, the feed continued to play as Gabriel glanced my way with a speculative look on his face. Half listening to my bullshit, his voice went hard as he asked Dawson, “Two Darkwing squads? And you thought it was a good idea to bring her here? What in the fuck were you thinking?”
Gabriel locked his blue-eyed stare on her, and she quailed slightly. “This is why you never bring someone here, Daws. This is why I have a strict policy of no visitation. Because there is always someone out there, looking for a way inside.”
His tone grew more accusing the longer he went on, and I didn’t miss what he was implying. He obviously thought I was some kind of corporate spy, which I was definitely not.
He had a right to be pissed, if this was another attempt to infiltrate his operation. But all I wanted was to escape to my new, boring life. The quickest way to do that was to offer my expertise and skedaddle.
“Can we get back on track?” I asked, gesturing to the video. “This guy, or the people he works for, more likely, knew you didn’t have a secretary. He asked specific questions, confirming details of your operation. My guess is, you have a leak.”
“I don’t,” Gabriel insisted, frowning as he looked at me, like it was my fault I’d penetrated his sanctuary. “This is just their latest attempt to steal my secrets. They haven’t managed to succeed, and I plan on tightening my security so they never will.”
“Who is this mysterious they?” I asked, the whole pizza girl convo going on in the background, my blood pressure rising as the guy dissed me, my appearance, and my perfectly acceptable corporate-material qualities. Given the chance, I would totally rock the tech-giant world.
“Shelton Corporation, of course. My biggest competitor.”
I coughed to hide my groan. Of course, it was the Sheltons. Who else would it be?
He weighed the suppressor in his hand and gave me a measuring look. “This is their tech. I was planning to wait until you left before digging into this, but… I suppose there’s no harm in you seeing this.” He walked over to a flat, plain table and set the device in the center. A 3-D image appeared midair, the device’s inner workings taking shape before our eyes.
“That will take a moment to complete, but my program is reconstructing the suppressor. Once it’s done, it’ll compare the parts to everything available on the market. Any fingerprints the builder left, my program will find and identify.”
This time when he turned back to me, there was no mistaking the glint of doubt in his face. It was clear Gabriel didn’t trust anyone but Daws, and even I had to admit, me getting boosted outside his place was fodder for an already suspicious mind.
“The Sheltons have tried everything to gain access to my main operations, to this floor. They’ve planted bugs, bribed building inspectors, and broken and entered, to start with. Lately, it appears, they’ve resorted to violence. The government’s approach is no less subtle. Injunctions, blatant right’s grabs, and patent infrin
gement, to name a few. But so far, there have been no successful breaches of my security.”
“No one’s security is completely airtight,” I protested. “There must have been leaks. He knew what he was looking for.”
For a moment, Gabriel didn’t answer, his gaze drifting between me and the slowly evolving image of the suppressor. “My security is airtight. I should know, I’m in charge of it.” His face grew flinty as he continued.
“I’m in charge of it all. The tech, the security, the R&D, everything, and I’m a goddamned one-man show. If there’s one thing that won’t be happening? It’s that family stealing what’s mine. What I’ve worked for.”
He grew angrier with every word he spoke. While I sympathized with him, I couldn’t afford to be caught up in another disastrous mess. Not when I was still trying to extricate myself out of the previous one.
Besides, this was corporate espionage. Way beyond my paygrade.
“Right, then. This sounds like a Fifth Avenue turf war, and I’ve got no horse in this race. No offense, but I think I’ve experienced enough emotional trauma for one day.” When I rose, the room spun precariously around me. “I’m assuming my new identity is all ready to go?”
“Most people,” Gabriel countered, “would at least be curious to find out who was behind their attack. Are you sure you don’t want to stick around?” He glanced at the spinning, three-dimensional image. “Another two minutes ought to do it.”
“I’m not most people, as Dawson will tell you.” I gripped the back of the chair, my balance unstable. “I don’t care who that guy was. He was after you, not me, and you appear capable enough to handle this yourself.” Experimentally, I let go of the chair, amazed my legs held.
“Have it your way.” Gabriel motioned to the far side of the room, near the window overlooking downtown. “Your paperwork is over there, as well as a print out of your personal details. Memorize them, it might save your life, the way things are going.”
Betrayed by Blood: The Shelton Family Legacy : 1 Page 11
