Mary fiddled with the sleeves of her Sinner battle uniform. It had been packed in an emergency backpack hidden under Gloria’s desk. Simple nun clothes had been replaced with black pants, jacket, hood and red scarf that stretched to cover her nose and mouth if she needed to hide her identity.
She checked her weapons. Throwing daggers up each sleeve. A fixed blade sheathed in her boot. No guns. They were unpredictable, messy, and not suitable for use around children. After the arsenal check, she took stock of the backpack. There were passports, cash, protein bars and a range of emergency items inside. Flint had been sent to collect the getaway van and other supplies like baby formula and diapers. Mary had always planned on getting the van herself until today. The vision had changed, and Julius has upped the ante.
But they could work this. She trusted her visions. They would survive if they stuck together.
She cracked her neck and checked on Gloria. Still sleeping. Good. She needed to rest for what came next and the hospital gown would suffice for the short trip down to the basement garage.
Mary checked through the observation window and noticed Sister Josephine sitting on a chair, knitting in the dimly lit room. Mary would’ve preferred one of the younger nuns on for tonight; she would need their strength getting the kids downstairs, but had to roll with what they had.
All children were asleep. Most of the building had gone home. In a few minutes, Flint would arrive downstairs in the garage, and they would put their plan into action.
Nothing to do but wait.
Mary glanced at her cell-phone and checked the time.
Soon.
Her belly flip-flopped at the thought of Flint and she felt like a ridiculous teenager. Since he’d left, half her thoughts had been of him. All that verbal pushing and pulling they’d done for the past two years had finally culminated into something real, and it was more than Mary had hoped for. He felt the same way about her. Enough to risk everything and rescue the children.
That kiss.
The butterflies in her stomach churned. Her fingers fluttered to her lips at the memory, itching to feel his touch again. That pressure, that heated passion. The tickle of his beard against her face. For a moment, Mary allowed herself to imagine what that beard would feel like elsewhere on her body. Rough, light, scratchy? On her bare breasts, her stomach, between her legs. Sweet Mother.
In her wildest dreams she’d never factored a relationship into her future. It had always been about the mission. The children. Gloria. Save them, save the world. Flint had faith in her, and she realized she had faith too. The order to eliminate the children had never fully embedded in her brain. With Flint part of her plan now, she’d never need that horrific failsafe. Thank God, her visions were rarely wrong because she couldn’t wait for all this to be over, and to get him alone.
“You’re thinking of him,” Gloria croaked from her bed.
“You’re awake.” Mary pushed off the bench she’d been resting against and went to Gloria’s side. “How are you feeling?”
Mary touched the back of her hand to Gloria’s forehead. It was sweaty and clammy and Gloria’s hair stuck to her face around the edges. Her eyes had dark circles under them. All of these things made Mary think the birth had been harder than usual. She wished she could have been there for her, but she’d been with the children.
Gloria took Mary’s hand from her forehead.
“Do you want water?” Mary asked.
Gloria shook her head. “Tell me about Flint.”
“Do you not trust him?”
“No. That’s not what I meant. You think about him. I saw your face. You like him. A lot.”
A blush heated Mary’s cheeks. “I do. I know it’s not something we planned for, but I’ve had feelings for him for a while. It feels good to imagine a future with him in my life.” In her bed… “He will help us. I know it. He’ll pull through.”
“Bring me the laptop.”
Mary glanced at the machine on Gloria’s desk. “Now?”
“Yes. I want to pay him.”
“You can do that later.”
“Please,” Gloria said in a strained voice. “It has to be now. I don’t want a doubt in his mind as to his purpose.”
Mary could see Gloria’s nervous head-shake developing and didn’t want to distress her, so rushed to retrieve the laptop and set it up on Gloria’s lap. Within minutes, Gloria transferred money into Flint’s payroll account.
“Done. Eight million dollars. You’re next.”
Mary shook her head. “I don’t need your money, Gloria. I’m not doing this for the wealth. The Sisterhood will take care of everything.”
“That’s why I’m giving it to you, because you don’t want it.”
“You mean to Flint. You gave it to Flint. I won’t give you my bank details.”
“Then I’ll give the rest to Flint and he can give it to you if you change your mind.” A few more clicks on the keyboard. “Done.”
There was a flash of emotion in Gloria’s eyes as she closed the lid on the laptop. Something coy and knowing. As though she knew the answer to a riddle Mary hadn’t asked yet. Then it was gone, quickly replaced by another Mary tried to decipher.
Gloria idly slid her hands back and forth on the smooth laptop surface, thinking, and then dropped her heavy head back to the pillow. When she finally lifted her tired gaze, Mary recognized the turmoil.
A memory clicked.
She’d seen the same tortured look in a comrade during a training exercises in Japan. Mary had tutored under the Onna Bugeisha—a powerful secret society of female Samurai. Like the Sisterhood, they were all women. It was what the Sisterhood prided themselves in; secret women’s business. Men were a hindrance. Their tempers, their testosterone. Let them think they rule the world, but behind the scenes, we do. Women were the brains and the brawn. Slipping in unnoticed for centuries, assassinating and neutralizing threats, then slipping out with their enemy none the wiser. Who would suspect a nun of treachery—of sin?
This one particular time, Mary had been only sixteen or so, and the group of Japanese women she fought with staged a mock battle in the countryside. The first team to get to the other side, and capture the flag, won. Mary’s team was down to the last two people—her and a woman named Akari. Their battle had been desperate and two days long. Both girls were at the end of their limits and outnumbered, six to two, but Akari had this look in her eyes. Dark, hollow, determined. If she went down, then she would do it with honor. It was only a mock battle, but the sacrifice was real. She drew the enemy away from Mary which allowed Mary to cross the field and take the flag before anyone noticed. Gloria had the same look in her eyes now.
“Gloria,” Mary said, a warning tone in her voice. “What are you thinking?”
“You said your vision changed this morning.”
“Yes, Flint was added.”
“And who was taken away?”
Mary went cold. “What do you mean?”
“The laws of science say that with every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Who was left out?”
Mary frowned. “I-I… I don’t know, I haven’t… my visions aren’t science, more like magic.” She was a Bruja, that’s what the mean children in her youth had teased, it was what her parents had called her. It was the source of all her pain.
“Mary.” Gloria’s expression was condescending. “I don’t have to remind you what I think about magic, now do I? Look now. Think back. Please. It’s important.”
Mary closed her eyes, centered her breathing, relaxed. To conjure the vision she had in the elevator, she remembered the smells in there. The metallic taint of the steel doors, the musty carpet, freshly showered male… a hint of mint… then the vision came back, flashing and flickering like an old movie reel. One, two… she counted the adult faces she saw, the children, and then—an ache so sharp hit her squarely in the chest. No. It can’t be. Shame flamed Mary’s cheeks. She’d been so caught up with, so excited about… that she compl
etely focused on the wrong thing. She shook her head. Unbelievable. How could she be so stupid? So negligent? So blind?
The mission came first and she failed.
Gloria was not in the vision.
When Mary reopened her eyes, recognition echoed back at her. She knew. Gloria somehow understood.
“No,” Mary said, determined to find a way. “It doesn’t matter. That vision is null and void because you had the child. You broke the cycle. Damn it, I should have written it down. Normally I record the vision. I’m so stupid. Pinche pendejo!”
“No. You’re not.” But Gloria’s lashes fluttered closed. “You are exactly what the children need. You and Flint. Me, on the other hand… I’ve never been able to accept the reality of being a mother. They’ve only been moving pictures behind a window. I’m not capable of more. I know it. Accept it. I’ve lost too much blood and am too weak to move far. I will slow you down. You must leave me.”
Mary’s veins turned to stone. “No. I’ll wheel you down in the gurney.”
“Mary, be realistic. You have eight children to move.”
“It doesn’t matter, I—”
“You may have to fight.”
“I can’t—”
“Mary!” Gloria grasped Mary’s hand in her own. “There are things I have to tell you. To prepare you for. Listen.”
Mary squeezed the tears from her eyes, inhaled deeply and pushed the panic away. She was better than this. She’d trained for worse situations. She was unbreakable.
So don’t break.
“Okay. Tell me.”
“I lied to Julius.”
“About what?”
“The children. Their powers.” Gloria licked her lips. Her eyes fluttered. The automatic medicating machine must have released a dose of morphine. She slurred her next words. “They all have them.”
“Why aren’t they manifesting?”
“Because I blocked them under a layer of their sin’s opposing virtue.”
“What does that mean?”
“When they meet a mate who embodies their exact opposite, their special ability will manifest, and they’ll be able to procreate. It will be safe for them to start their own family,” Gloria murmured, then drifted asleep. “I want them to have a full life.”
“Gloria, I don’t understand.” Mary patted Gloria’s hand, but she’d gone silent.
Mary’s phone pinged, signaling Flint was down in the garage with the van, ready to go. In a few minutes, he’d be finished laying his disrupter devices to wipe the camera feeds. Mary shot a text back to give her five minutes.
“Gloria?” Mary patted her again.
Gloria’s eyes opened. “Hmm?”
“You were telling me about the children. What did you mean exactly?”
For the first time in Mary’s life, she saw tears in Gloria’s eyes.
“Those children will grow to be saviors, but in the wrong hands, they will bring destruction. So, I blocked them from having the ability to have children, and I locked their powers away. Just in case.”
In case we fail.
Gloria panted, stressed. “It was always about balance, Mary. There had to be a balance. It’s a safety mechanism. I may be a scientist, but I’m not mad. I won’t condone bringing evil into the world. My parents had no balance. None. Too wrong for each other, but these children… they have a chance. Never in my life did my parents look at each other the way you and Flint do. With both of you they have a chance.” Gloria’s grip tightened on Mary’s hand. Wild, dark hair fell around her face. She locked eyes with Mary. “Promise me you stick with Flint and show these children what true love looks like, so when they find their mate, they latch on with two hands. They save themselves. Promise me. Promise me.”
A lump formed in Mary’s throat as Gloria’s words sank in. Her plea changed everything. No more Sisterhood. No more Plan B where she saved the world by ending the deadly children before they grew up. A life with the children and Flint settled in her mind with a sense of rightness, of possibility. She could teach them everything she knew about warfare, and Flint could teach them how to have a soul. Together, with the right training, the children could grow into the leaders the world needed.
Maybe they could grow a garden. Together.
Mary nodded. “I promise.”
Gloria sank in relief. “I’ve done all I can to help them,” Gloria mumbled, darkness swimming over her features yet again. “I made them strong in body, I programmed biological warnings, triggers, pheromones… the Bee Wolf Wasp… but you have to make them strong in heart. I can’t. I can’t.”
Gloria faded for a moment. Mary let go of her hand and paced the room. She made no sense. What the hell? A Bee Wolf Wasp? Mary knew the building was full of research laboratories for this project. Billions of dollars went into it. Billions. There were animals and insects from all over the world, from the highest mountain to the deepest ocean. Cutting edge genome sequencing and engineering. It all went to make these children what they were, except it came to the project room in pieces for Gloria to put together. It was a security strategy—to keep the important information isolated so no one could steal it and understand the master plan.
Mary tried to recalibrate, to adjust the escape. Before Gloria dropped her bomb, the plan was to evacuate, setting fire as they left. Her research would burn, leaving nothing for Julius to use. But they couldn’t very well ignite the place if Gloria was left inside. Perhaps Flint’s disruption device would take care of the cameras and anything left the fire didn’t burn. But Mary’s vision had still shown flames.
A sound behind her made her look.
Gloria was out of her bed and ripping the intravenous tubing from her arm. She swayed from side to side, but steadied herself on the bed. She jutted her chin out and avoided Mary’s gaze, then walked, one shaky foot in front of the other.
“Get back in bed, Gloria.” Mary made her way back to Gloria, but Gloria detoured to her desk. She rummaged through the drawer to pull something out: a bottle of Ethanol and a lighter. She poured the flammable liquid onto her desk, and the alcoholic stench filled the air. “I won’t let him get this. It’s not for him. You can take my laptop. Everything you need for the future is in there. One day the children will be smart enough to decipher it.”
Then she set the desk on fire.
“Gloria!” Mary shouted. She raced to the bassinet to retrieve the baby and tucked him into her arms. Thankfully, the boy was asleep. “What are you doing?”
“What I should’ve done a long time ago.” Gloria moved faster than Mary thought possible. She unlocked the door to the children’s living quarters and pushed through, spraying the flammable liquid on the floor, on the walls, everywhere but the children’s beds.
Sweet Mother.
“Out!” Gloria cried. “Everyone out!”
Mary raced in after her. Sister Josephine shot out of her seat, her knitting scattered to the floor. She held her palms in front of her in surrender.
“Dear Gloria, what are you doing?” Sister Josephine asked.
Gloria’s eyes were wild as she picked up a metal cup from the kitchenette and used it to bang loudly on the mirrored window. A horrendous clatter filled the room, waking the children. Some of them cried, others shot out of bed. Then Gloria went to the wall, opened a hidden panel and pulled the Fire Alarm lever, alerting anyone left in the building.
Mary and Sister Josephine ushered the eldest children, Pride, Despair, and Wrath to stand near the door before going back for the younger children. Mary handed the newborn to the eldest, Pride, and told him to wait by the lab exit. The boy was tall. Only seven years old and coming up to her shoulder. Unlike his siblings who had darker hair like their mother, his long russet hair was thick and tarnished, almost like a lion’s mane. But he refused to cut it. He took Envy without a word of complaint and went through to the laboratory. It would all be so new for them. They’d never been outside their living quarters.
“Out. Out children. There is a fire. Thr
ough this door.” Mary peered through the laboratory and saw the secure exit door opening. Two unknown guards came rushing in and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of children running toward them. “Take the baby,” Mary shouted.
“And this one,” Sister Josephine rushed down with the one-year-old girl in her arms. Sloth. Then the Sister rushed back to retrieve the two-year-old toddler, Gluttony, who woke screaming in fear and sucking his thumb between wails. Mary took hold of four-year-old Lust’s hand, then collected the three-year-old boy Greed. Mary hefted him out of his bed and balanced him on her hip. Now, where was Gloria?
She was gone.
Ten
The moment Flint heard the fire alarm go off, he knew something had gone wrong.
Shit.
His thoughts flew to Mary. Those guards. Those fucktards. What if they hurt her? He pulled out his phone and tried to call, but she didn’t pick up. He checked the security camera feed he’d hooked up to his phone and scrolled through locations until he viewed the floor they were on. No one was there yet.
He didn’t want to hold up the lift in case they had to come down, so launched up the stairwell, two steps at a time. Sixteen floors later, his lungs burned and his heart beat rapidly, wanting to burst out of his chest. His thighs trembled with exertion. Thank God he ran miles a day, otherwise he’d not have made it. When he exited the stairwell, and ran into the reception lobby, he rolled his device along the floor and into the exposed lab area. Within ten minutes, all electrical devices would be wiped. All data on the computers, lost. He turned to the Project room and almost crashed into a security guard holding an infant.
“Fire,” the guard bit out. “Stairs.”
“The lift will be quicker,” Flint said, nerves firing. He hit the down button on the elevator to call it to the level. “One trip down and you’ll be safe. Go.”
Sinner: The Deadly Seven, Origins Page 6