by Rysa Walker
“Glad you found your bags,” he says. “I forgot to mention we picked them up.”
I’m surprised to see Kelsey there, talking to Sam. Taylor is there too, asleep, her head against Sam’s shoulder. She’s wearing a pink cotton shirt someone here at the hospital must have loaned her to replace her blood-soaked sweater. It brings Ashley-my-nurse to mind, although the shirts at The Warren were blue.
“When did you get here?” I ask as Kelsey comes over.
“Flew back yesterday,” Kelsey says. “I called the landline at the cottage Sunday night when I couldn’t reach your cell. Aaron’s sister answered and told me what happened. I asked them to let me know as soon as . . .” She stops and gives me a look that’s equal parts exasperation and relief. “Are the two of you okay?”
I nod and return her hug. The longer, more complicated version can wait for later.
“How’s Daniel?” Deo asks.
“He’s alive,” Sam says. “That’s the good news.”
“It was touch and go on the way here,” Aaron says. “They nearly lost him. My mom is on her way back from Europe. Turns out she’s the only one who knew where Daniel was, so . . . well, let’s just say I have a whole lot of questions.”
Sam shakes his head, and I get the feeling they’ve already had this discussion once or twice. “Come on, Aaron. It’s not fair to blame it all on Michele. She and Daniel didn’t share everything with me, but I knew he’d been doing something with Python for the past few months when he was with the MPD. I just didn’t realize he’d been undercover with them since he got out of training. Like Taylor, I actually bought the story that he’d finally found a girl willing to put up with his grumpy ass and that’s why he wasn’t at home most of the time. So your mom and Daniel weren’t the only ones keeping secrets.”
“That’s okay. I can be pissed at you and Mom at the same time. Daniel, too.”
I notice he doesn’t say the last bit with quite his usual level of venom. Hard to be too pissed at a guy when he’s in the ICU.
“You up for a walk?” Aaron asks. “The nurse said there’s an Au Bon Pain past the chapel. I need fuel.”
“Sure.” I’m about to ask if he minds if Deo joins us, but then I realize Kelsey has Deo off to the side. That’s good. I think he probably needs a session with her right now more than he ever has.
Aaron tells Sam to call his cell if they hear anything. He waits until we’re out of sight, then takes my hand. “How’s Deo?”
“Not talking about it. At least not to me. Hopefully Kelsey’s having better luck. I should have taken the gun. He kind of lost it in the lab when he got control back from Cregg. Fired at Cregg and at Lucas . . . Don’t blame him, but it was more like an automatic response. I don’t even know if he hit them. I should have taken the gun from him and made sure they were both dead. Then this would never have—”
Nope. You already had the vision, Anna. Wouldn’t have changed a damn thing.
Aaron echoes Jaden’s point without even knowing it. “Stop it. This isn’t your fault, and it isn’t Deo’s fault. It’s Cregg’s fault. You heard Daniel. He understood that perfectly. But . . . I’m pretty sure the police will be here soon to talk with both of you. We’ve been going with the story that Lucas grabbed you guys because he believed you knew something about Molly’s death. That we tracked him down.”
I give a bitter laugh. “Ah, Selective Truth. We meet again.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a joke Deo and I have. We’ve had many occasions where we had to avoid telling the whole truth, and nothing but. I’m a little worried that Deo may be a problem, though. He feels so incredibly guilty—”
“That’s one thing Kelsey is talking to him about now.”
I sigh, finding it hard to believe that we’re now in a reality where Kelsey is coaching Deo on why he needs to lie to the police.
“Don’t suppose we’ve considered the possibility of bringing the police in on this? I mean, there’s an entire underground facility an hour up the road that backs up our story.”
“Well, they definitely know there’s a facility of some sort there, since most of the firefighters in northeastern Maryland are currently battling a fire there.”
Good . . . assuming they got the kids out. But . . .
Shh. I’m trying to have a conversation here.
Jaden has been pretty good about keeping quiet and keeping out of my head since we left The Warren, but then again, most of that time I was focused on driving. I’m not sure I have the energy for extra wall building right now, and I don’t want Aaron to think I’m tuning him out.
“. . . not going to find much evidence to connect it to Graham Cregg. The story you need to give them is that you were kept in separate rooms, but you think you were next to each other. You thought you heard Deo’s voice. The only person you saw was Lucas. Daniel broke the two of you out once the fire started. You don’t know who shot him. We’ll deal with all of the other questions . . . like why we decided to attempt a rescue without contacting the authorities.”
We enter an atrium that looks more like a shopping mall. Or maybe a hotel lobby. Several of the shops are closed, but Au Bon Pain is thriving, with four or five tables occupied, despite the ungodly hour.
“Okay. I’ll keep it simple. I just . . . I can’t see how the fire in that lab could have spread throughout the facility. It was separated from the main rooms by a really long tunnel.”
“Fire can zip through a tunnel pretty fast,” Aaron says, lowering his voice a bit now that there are others around. “But from what I was picking up outside the facility, it was torched on purpose. To cover their exit, I guess, and maybe get rid of evidence. Pretty sure they were planning to get rid of some people, too. Even leaving my hunch out of it, I don’t think the appearance of a transport helicopter was just a coincidence.”
“So . . . does a military copter mean the military is giving Cregg support?” That idea sends a shiver through me. It’s bad enough to think that his father might know what’s going on. A conspiracy that includes the military however, goes a lot deeper.
“Not necessarily. If it was an older model, they could have purchased the chopper at auction. But . . . I’m not sure we can rule it out.”
He grabs three sandwiches, a few bags of chips, and some pastries, then tells me to get whatever I think Deo and Kelsey will want. I’m filling a coffee for Kelsey when Aaron lifts my hair back from my face.
“Ouch. When did that happen? I didn’t notice it before.”
“Didn’t have it before. Another one of Jaden’s visions hit me when we stopped to clean up on our way here. It’s a little more . . . disruptive . . . than having extra people in your head. I must have banged into the sink—”
“Okay, that’s . . . scary. You don’t get any warning with these visions?”
“Nope. And don’t worry. I won’t be driving anymore until . . .”
“Until? They’ll go away, won’t they? When he leaves?”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “No way to tell. None of my previous boarders have had dubious superpowers.”
Once we pay the bill, Aaron pulls me toward one of the tables.
“Do you mind eating here? I’ve been sitting in the waiting room for the better part of an hour. I need a change of scenery.”
“Works for me. This looks less like a hospital. I really, really hate hospitals.”
“I don’t think they’re anyone’s favorite place.”
For a second, I’m reminded of Bruno, happy to have a warm bed, the tin of cookies from Kelsey, and a TV remote all to himself. But I simply nod.
“I kind of need a break,” he says. “I don’t want to be rough on Sam right now. We’ve got enough to worry about with Daniel. But he’s not just my granddad, he’s my partner, and now I find out that he’s been working with Mom and Daniel, hiding things from me—”
“Okay, I’m not exactly following that part.”
He tears open a sugar packet with a little more force than nec
essary. About half of it ends up on the table rather than in his cup, and he has to try again. Once he’s finished, he takes a sip, then says, “You know how Mom’s been on this business trip to Europe?”
“Yeah . . . I think someone said it was a buying trip, although I don’t know exactly what that means.”
“She’s an interior designer. Junior partner in a firm in DC. It’s not the first time she’s had to travel, so I didn’t think much of it. But . . . this wasn’t a work trip like she said. Daniel set it up. She was in London to meet with Magda Bell.”
“Magda . . .” I shake my head. “It rings a bell, but—”
Aaron laughs and I face-palm.
“Sorry. Bad pun. I need sleep.”
“You and me both. Magda is Erik Bell’s wife. Remember how I mentioned that I tried to follow up with her after I read the Guardian article? I thought she never got back to me, but it seems Mom took the call and didn’t bother relaying the message. She didn’t want me drawing attention to myself by digging into the case, and I guess that’s partly my fault because I told her I wouldn’t, but . . . The Bells have two daughters—twins—and . . .” He gives me a you-fill-in-the-blank look and takes a bite of his sandwich.
“They’re gifted.”
“Intensely. To the point they can barely function. Anyway, they’ve been corresponding for the past two years—mostly Magda and Daniel.”
“So, if they’ve been in touch for a couple of years, why did your mom travel over there now?”
“Daniel was supposed to go, then he got the undercover position at Delphi. So Mom took his place. Sam says Bell wants to bankroll a search for other gifteds, or adepts, as they’re calling them. She wants to find them before Cregg does.”
“Cregg used that word,” I tell him. “He said something about a lot of second-generation adepts having high caloric burn rates or something. Which made me think of Taylor and the pizzas.”
An uncomfortable expression crosses Aaron’s face. “That’s the other thing that I was a little ticked at Sam about. You and Deo were actually there, in danger, and I’m—”
He stops and reaches across the table to take my hand. “Okay, I’ll just admit I was going crazy, Anna. From the moment you jumped out of the car until I saw you on the other side of that fence, I was worried out of my freakin’ mind. I know why you did it, but you scared the holy hell out of me.”
“I’m sorry.” And I am, especially now, looking into his eyes. I wonder if he’s even slept. “But like I said before—”
“I know. And I’m not trying to give you grief about it.” He pulls my hand forward to press a kiss against my knuckles. “That’s not the point I was trying make. I kind of got sidetracked because I’m really, really glad to have you back safe. What I was going to say is that every time I talked to Sam the past few days, he started going off about how hard Mom and Daniel have worked to keep me and Taylor safe all these years, and how he hopes you didn’t spill about our abilities. Like that’s the most important consideration right now. I was this close to punching him. Taylor was even getting annoyed, and she’s crazy about the old goat.”
“You’re his grandkids, Aaron. Family first. I understand that. And I don’t think Dacia got anything from me about the two of you. I just can’t guarantee that the others didn’t.”
“Others?”
“Yeah. That place—I didn’t go into detail when we were in the Jeep, but being in that place was . . . weird. Jaden talked about this group he called The Peepers. I’m pretty sure Dacia has to touch you to get information, or at least to get much information. But there are kids in The Warren who make her skills look like a parlor trick.”
I tell him about the message on the mirror and the kid in Room 81.
“I tried to keep my walls up as much as I could, but . . . assuming that they actually managed to evacuate the place, there could be half a dozen psychic kids who know everything I’ve ever said, done, or thought. And that might include information about you and Taylor.”
Aaron’s phone starts to buzz as I’m talking.
“Yeah, Sam. We’re on our way.”
I grab the bag of food. “Is it news about Daniel?”
“Yes, he’s out of surgery. I don’t think he’s out of the woods yet, but Sam says they’ve upgraded his condition to serious.”
“That’s an upgrade?”
“Apparently. But the main reason he called is that the police are here, and as we expected, they’ve got questions.”
“Great.” I wad up the wrapper from my mostly eaten Danish. “My head hurts and I’m exhausted. All I want is to curl up somewhere and sleep. I’d even risk the Molly dreams at this point.”
He tips my chin up so that our eyes meet. “You’ll be fine. Just . . .” His serious expression morphs into a smile. “Did anyone ever tell you that you have the most amazing eyes?”
I blush and look away.
“No fair! I say you have gorgeous eyes and you take them away from me.”
“You’re trying to distract me,” I say. But I look back up.
“Yes, I am. Doesn’t mean it’s not true.” He traces the edge of my lip with his thumb. “And you started it. What I was saying before you distracted me is that you’ll be fine. Just stick to the plan. We’ll get through this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
For the next half hour, I sit in the far corner of the waiting room and answer questions from a Maryland State Police officer. I give her our prearranged nuggets of truth. I try not to elaborate or throw in any extra details that might trip me up or contradict the story that Deo is telling a second officer on the other side of the waiting area.
But I’m really tired. So tired that I almost wish it was Dacia sitting here and I could just stick out my arm and say go ahead. Grab it. Find the answers your own damn self.
I suspect the officer can tell I’m not being entirely honest, but we go through several grueling repetitions of the same basic drill. She has a lot of questions about other people at the facility, which she keeps referring to as a cell. I think at first that she means a single room, like a jail cell, but then it becomes clear that she means it in the other sense—like a terrorist cell. What languages did I hear? Did I see any of their faces? Could I identify any of them?
Somewhere in the middle of the second iteration a small blonde woman rushes in. All of the Quinns get up to greet her. Must be Aaron’s mom. Porter follows behind her, his arm in a sling. He looks around the room and gives me a worried smile.
“. . . head? Anna?” The officer snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Are you still with me?”
“Oh, sorry. I think I need more coffee. Could you repeat the question?”
Finally, the officer hands me her card, saying I should call her if anything else comes to mind. And then she adds that someone from Bartholomew House will retrieve me and Deo within the next few hours.
I manage to smile and tell her that’s good. That it will be nice to get home. But all I can think is, here we go again. The exit sign over the door—nice to be back in a building that actually has exit signs—is practically shouting my name, and my mind starts whirring as I try to map out the details. I still have the keys to the Grapemobile in my back pocket. There’s no way I would keep it, but it will get us to Kelsey’s beach house. I still have the code to get in. I’m guessing Kelsey’s car is still there, but maybe we should take the bus.
In fact, maybe I should start back at square one, since driving is now on my verboten-list.
The other officer seems to have finished with Deo. Kelsey demanded to sit with him while they talked, claiming in loco parentis status. Which they accepted, probably because she actually is a formal member of his “team,” but I’m guessing the fact that they didn’t want to wait on a Bart House employee to arrive also played a pretty big role in their decision-making.
The police move on to Aaron and Taylor. Deo sits there for a moment, leaning forward, head in his hands. Then he shakes it off and heads down the h
all, away from the waiting room.
I start after him, but Kelsey holds me back.
“Give him some space, Anna.”
She’s right. And this is a public place, police coming in and out on a regular basis. No one is likely to snatch him away in a busy hospital. But it’s going to be a while before I’m comfortable letting him out of my sight.
I grab a drink from the Au Bon Pain bag. Then I drop down into one of the sage-green chairs next to Kelsey. The entire building, or at least what I’ve seen of it, is decorated in muted natural tones—beige, pale greens, wood floors. While calm colors are probably a good call for a shock-and-trauma waiting room, they’re also the decorating equivalent of Ambien for the sleep deprived. And personally, I don’t find them calming. The colors are a constant reminder that I saw this place in my mind an hour before I walked in the door.
“Deo stuck to the script, if that’s what you’re wondering. But anyone could see something’s bothering him. I pointed out that he was held captive for several days and recently witnessed a shooting. That he’s in shock. And I think that’s true.”
“Did he tell you they injected him?”
“Yes, but he made light of it. Said he only mentioned it because it was worrying you. Do you think it’s the same compound they were using on the girls who were trafficked?”
“I don’t know. I hope not. But Molly said Dacia was injected numerous times, so . . . even if it is, maybe one dose won’t be a problem. Hopefully Sam will know someone who can analyze the vial I took from the lab. Or maybe take a blood sample from Deo to see if there are any markers or whatever. Not sure what we can do about it, but it would be nice to know.”
“Okay. Enough about Deo. How are you?”
I’m not sure where to start. We could spend weeks unpacking the past few days, and I’d still have more to say. So I settle for a very general overview.
“And that’s why Cregg was after you? Because you can absorb their gifts, too?”