by Jade Kerrion
Zara chuckled. “Xin? She’s the goddess of anything that has an on-and-off switch.”
“She’s a NSA analyst.” Danyael supplemented Zara’s much-too-accurate description of Xin. “Let’s get going. I don’t want to be late.”
Danyael followed Zara to their car and slid into the passenger seat. She turned the key in the ignition, and the engine purred to life. “Do you really have to do this?” she asked as she steered the car down the curved driveway and out onto the road.
“I don’t know how else to keep you and Lucien safe from Thomas and the rest of Sakti.”
“We can take care of ourselves.”
“Really?”
Zara had the grace to blush. “From Sakti, sure, but Galahad’s just—”
“Impossible to beat in a fight?” Danyael glanced at Zara. “He was designed that way, so why are you surprised?”
“I didn’t think he would strike me.”
“He’s hurt and angry.”
“And if you think that excuses him—”
“He spent twenty-five years as a prisoner and test subject at Pioneer Labs. He’s been free for just over a year and a half. That’s a steep social learning curve, even for Galahad. He’s trying to understand the rules governing relationships—”
“There aren’t any.”
“Of course there are. The simple fact that you take pleasure in breaking all of them proves they exist.”
Zara rolled her eyes. “Do you always believe the best of everyone?”
“Do you always believe the worst?”
“Xin sent me to protect you from Galahad. His templates are dying.”
Danyael looked at her sharply. “What?”
“Eight of Galahad’s templates have died in the past year, all under suspicious circumstances.”
“And you think Galahad’s doing it?”
“Xin thinks so. Galahad killed Reyes, and if he could have, he would have killed you too.”
“Reyes’s death was an accident.” Wasn’t it?
“You’re delusional. Do you know what Galahad is feeling? Did you look into his heart?”
“No, he’s shielded, and I didn’t push,” Danyael lied. Zara did not need to know about the flashes of jealousy and bitterness he had sensed from Galahad. She would pass judgment without considering the other emotions he had also sensed from Galahad: need, longing, and something that might have been love.
“So your presumption of his innocence is based on your belief in the innate goodness of humanity? Sorry, but that’s not going to fly.” She was briefly silent, and when she spoke again, she sounded accusing. “You said you loved me.”
“Yes.” Danyael sighed. “I didn’t intend to make you unhappy.”
“You tell me you love me after you ask me to kill you, and it’s not supposed to make me unhappy?” Zara pulled the car to the side of the road, slammed on the brakes, and turned to look Danyael full in the face. “Do you really want to die?”
“No, but I can’t afford to pay the price of succeeding and surviving.” Danyael turned his face away from her. His hands clenched to still the trembling. “I wake in the night wanting, needing to scream, but I can’t get the sound out of my throat. I count to sixty, waiting for the pain to rip through me. I stand outside a running shower, stare at the water, and wonder how much it’s going to hurt. I wasn’t perfect before ADX; I wasn’t even normal, but ADX took whatever was still normal about me and crushed it.”
Her wide violet eyes appeared black in the darkness before the dawn. She stuttered. “You…don’t know that they’ll send you back to ADX.”
“I’m an escaped class-five criminal, Zara. I was imprisoned for life without a trial for killing twelve men in self-defense. I know I didn’t deserve that sentence, but now I do. I’ve already killed more than that number today, and if I succeed, I will kill hundreds more. What do you think they’ll do to me?” His throat worked as he swallowed painfully. “I’ve had my second chance—Reyes and the general gave it to me—and if I can save you and Lucien, then maybe it was worth something, but there isn’t enough left in me to pay that price again.” He looked up, startled to see tears brimming in her eyes. For me? The thought warmed him. He gently brushed away a single tear that trickled down her cheek. “Please help me.”
Zara had no answer for him. She turned away from him and pulled the car back onto the road. Behind them, three idling trucks peeled off the shoulder and continued trailing their car.
They drove on in silence for a few minutes. Danyael glanced up at the rear view mirror. Their headlights bright, three trucks navigated the gentle curves of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The waters of the Potomac lapped inky black against the riverbank. In the distance, the familiar outline of the city’s buildings gleamed with light. It’s beautiful. He inhaled deeply, knowing they were less than five minutes from their destination. Miriya?
They’re gathering. Whatever else you can say about Sakti, they deserve credit for logistics. Within minutes of your hanging up on Thomas, Sakti pulled out of the households they were harassing and started converging on the island.
Good. Are they all there?
Possibly. The National Guard and police are setting up a perimeter to keep civilians out of the area, and while they’re plenty busy picking up the pieces, they’re not reporting any contact with Sakti.
Are you in place?
Yes, we’re on the Mount Vernon Trail, directly across from the island. I can feel you approaching.
Danyael glanced out of the window. He saw nothing in the pre-dawn darkness, but Miriya and the council were out there, somewhere. All right. I’m sending Zara and three assault group soldiers to you. Look out for them. “Turn the car around and pull over.”
Zara swung the car into a U-turn and pulled onto the shoulder. The trucks followed. Danyael stepped out of the car and waved Peter and the two other Mutant Assault Group soldiers over. “The council is on the trail. Head down, and they’ll find you.” He glanced at Zara and then looked back at Peter. “Make sure she gets there.”
Zara glowered at Danyael, but when her eyes met his, the cool challenge gave way to something softer, sadder. “I will take care of you,” she promised.
“Thank you.”
She leaned forward. Their lips brushed in farewell, and then she was gone, moving swiftly toward the Mount Vernon Trail, the soldiers racing to keep up.
Painkillers could not dull the ache in his heart. Goodbye, Zara. When she and the others were out of sight, he pulled on his body armor and limped to the trucks. Awkwardly he climbed onto the back of the trailer, unlocked the door, and swung it open.
Scar scowled and snorted a distinctly grumpy sound.
Danyael smiled faintly. “You didn’t miss all that much. The real fun’s about to begin. Come with me.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Zara and her Mutant Assault Group escorts traveled two hundred feet down the wooded path before two enforcers from the council stepped out silently from behind the trees. They nodded politely. One of them said, “Your general and a small team of his men are over the next ridge. I’ll show you the way.”
Peter hesitated. “Danyael’s orders were to—”
“I’m fine here. Go back to your general.” With a dismissive wave, Zara parted ways with the Mutant Assault Group. She stalked down the path, brushing past the startled enforcers congregating around Alex, Miriya, and Xin.
Laura Itani, cuddled in an enforcer’s arms, cooed a happy greeting, but Zara ignored her daughter in favor of yanking Xin around. Zara’s eyes narrowed as she scowled at the clone. Her voice, though tactfully lowered, roiled with anger. “Your little fact-finding trip turned into a fucking nightmare. You better tell me that you got something useful out of the damned video implants in my eyes.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Good.” Zara flung her arm out at the small island, tucked in between Virginia and Washington, D.C. “Because Danyael’s out there, sick with pain and about to drop from
exhaustion, and he’s leading a bunch of unruly circus animals into a showdown with Sakti. If this was part of your plan, then your plan sucked.”
“We’re improvising on this part,” Xin confessed.
“The next time you improvise, don’t run with Danyael’s plan.”
“On the contrary, Danyael’s plan is tactically sound, the best possible plan, given our limited resources. There is no truly safe place for an alpha empath to cut loose anywhere near Washington, D.C., but Theodore Roosevelt Island was a good call. Sakti is congregating on an island with limited avenues for escape, and Danyael’s putting as much distance between him and innocent people as possible. He’s giving us a chance to contain the damage.”
“He is going to die fighting his way through Sakti. He’ll never get to Thomas.”
“We don’t know that, but even if he dies before he gets to Thomas, there’s a good chance he’ll take out most of Sakti, and possibly Thomas too.”
“So it’s a win-win for you? What about for Danyael?”
“No one twisted his arm. He wanted to do this.”
Zara released her breath, a disgusted snort. “He’s walking, eyes wide open, to his death, trying to salvage what he can of a situation that he didn’t start and can’t control.”
“We’re controlling the situation, but I need eyes on the ground.”
“I’m on it. Did you bring my gear with you?”
Xin pointed at a large black box on the ground.
From the box, Zara grabbed fresh ammunition for her Glock and, almost as an afterthought, picked up an additional gun and the portable case containing her sniper rifle. She gave her pouting daughter a fierce hug, and then she turned toward the road that would take her to the island.
Miriya pushed her way forward. “I’m coming too.”
Alex shook his head. “No, absolutely not. You’re the only one tapped into Danyael’s mind. We can’t do this without you.”
“We’re going to need a split-second response before Danyael drops his psychic shields, and the only way to get it is if I’m on top of what’s going on, mentally and physically. By the time he tells me, and I tell Jessica, everyone within a several-mile radius of Danyael could be dead, including us.”
Alex glanced at Xin.
Xin nodded. “Miriya’s right. We have no room for error.” The clone looked at Zara, who was waiting expectantly. “Keep her safe.”
“Yeah, of course. Come on.” Zara looked up sharply at the sound of footsteps on the trail and was annoyed, but not surprised, to see Galahad and Lucien emerge from the darkness, escorted by enforcers. She bared her teeth in a smile at Galahad. Her voice was a soft purr. “Did you enjoy your nap?”
Alex’s voice snapped with irritation. “Why are you both out here?”
“He regained consciousness,” Lucien said. “Zara told me to deliver him to the council.”
Zara strode up to Galahad. “If you ever again wonder why I left you months ago for nothing more than the memory of Danyael, just think about today.”
“I never meant to hurt you.”
She turned her back on him and on the hand held out imploringly. She spoke to Miriya. “Come on, let’s go.”
Miriya scrambled after Zara and waited until they were out of earshot. “Okay, that was unkind.”
“No, that was kind. ‘Unkind’ would have been if I’d strung him up and given Danyael my dagger so that he could spill Galahad’s guts out on the floor.”
“Danyael would never do that.”
Zara scowled. “Of course not, which would make it a waste of good string.”
Miriya chuckled. She peered at the island and frowned. “How are we going to get across?”
“There’s a footbridge from the parking lot just south of here. It isn’t far.”
“Okay,” Miriya said, a cheerful lilt to her voice that Zara considered grossly misplaced, in view of the situation. “We’re going to save Danyael, aren’t we?”
Zara clenched her teeth. She shared Miriya’s determination, if not her optimism. “We’re going to damn well try. So tell me, what is Danyael’s plan?”
“He fights his way in as far as he possibly can, our alpha telepaths smash through their psychic shields, our alpha telekinetics drop a dome around them, and then Danyael cuts loose, lowering both his psychic shields.”
“For the emotional equivalent of a nuclear bomb?”
“Pretty much. Sakti will be unshielded, the dome will contain the spread of Danyael’s powers, and—” Miriya clasped her hands and then yanked them apart with controlled violence. “Kaboom. Mass suicide. Of course, the last three things have to happen within split seconds of each other; otherwise it wouldn’t work. Sakti would catch on, and they’d be able to counter our plans.”
“Do you have any idea how many things can go wrong? If Danyael’s out there in a fight, he could get killed at any time.”
Miriya winced. “That’s not part of the plan, but even if it does happen, his shields won’t collapse immediately. We should have enough time to break their psychic shields and drop the dome.”
Zara shook her head. “I see ‘luck’ written all over this plan.”
“There is a bit of that,” Miriya admitted.
“So why are you down here with me? If you’re tapped into Danyael’s head, you should have the timing down.”
“And I suppose Danyael is precognitive too, huh? He can see every attack coming his way? Like you say, he could get blindsided. If I’m close, I’ll have a better handle on the situation.”
“Will you be breaking all those psychic shields and lowering the dome?”
“Who, me?” Miriya scrunched her nose. “God, no. I’m not strong enough to channel all that psychic energy, plus I’m not even telekinetic. Jessica’s coordinating that.”
“Jessica who?”
“Jessica Richardson. I don’t think you know her. She’s council trained, an alpha telepath and telekinetic.”
“Another uber-powered bitch?” Zara had not forgotten her run-in with the council-trained mutants who had come to Danyael’s aid prior to his arrest and imprisonment at ADX.
“She’s nicer than Andrea Hunter, if that’s what you’re asking. Jessica’s not as strong a telepath as Andrea or as strong a telekinetic as John, but she’s both, which is a plus.”
“So where is she?”
“With Sakti. She sneaked in when they were pouring onto the island.”
Zara’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that just a touch…unsafe?”
“We need someone to anchor the telepathic and telekinetic energy coming from the council and the assault group. Jessica’s the logical choice. She has really strong shields; she won’t be discovered.”
“Good for her. Let’s also hope she doesn’t get torn up by a super soldier.”
Miriya’s jaw dropped.
Zara stopped short and turned to look at Miriya. “You didn’t consider that possibility? What do you think the super soldiers are going to do when they find her? Politely ask if she’s an agent for the council before deciding if they should rip off her head?”
“Well, there’s lots of people in the fight and we thought—”
“You’re counting on that luck thing again, aren’t you?” Zara sighed. “Tell Danyael’s she’s there, and send him a mental image of her face. With luck, he’ll locate her and keep the soldiers from spilling her guts.” She glanced up at the lightening horizon as she strode across the footbridge. “Dawn’s going to be here sooner than we like.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a lot easier moving around in the dark.”
“Xin’s right. You really do have the soul of a thief.” Miriya halted at the end of the bridge to catch her breath. She looked around, her green eyes distant, and then pointed to the north. “They’re up that way.”
“Sakti or Danyael?”
“Both.”
“All right, follow me. No, not on the footpath, Miriya. Stay behind the tree line—” Zara glanced up sharply.
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Miriya’s eyes flared with alarm. “Watch out, there are—”
Zara raised her Glock and fired a single shot into a wall of bushes. Something large dropped to the ground with a thud. A lifeless hand flopped out from behind the tangle of leaves.
Miriya’s mouth dropped open. “He was shielded. I barely sensed him. How did you know he was there?”
Zara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I don’t know how you telepaths function in the real world. Humans do have five other senses, you know. I heard him and saw him.”
“But you didn’t even know which side he was on.”
“True, but on an island filled with terrorists, I had no intention of waiting to find out. So, does Sakti have scouts on the perimeter, or was that a one-off?”
“I don’t know, but I can scan ahead.”
“No, I’ll handle it. You just focus on Danyael.”
The scout had not been the only one, but their haphazard placement bore testament to lack of planning. Zara located and killed each one before he sounded an alarm. She was at the top of her game; she had to be, for Danyael’s sake, for Laura’s sake, for the sake of everyone and everything she loved.
Zara and Miriya’s pace slowed as they closed in on Sakti. They had their first glimpse of the large gathering of people while hidden behind a cluster of bushes. Miriya gasped. “There are so many of them.”
Zara’s gaze swept over the crowd. “Looks about right to me. Four to five hundred people. What were you expecting?”
“Uh…I don’t know. I don’t know if we have enough telekinetics to create the dome.”
Zara’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
Miriya chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t know if we can create a dome that large. We don’t have enough people.”
“Where is Jessica, and why didn’t she identify it as a problem before?”
Miriya was briefly silent. Zara realized that she was probably engaged in a telepathic conversation. “Jessica’s still in the crowd,” Miriya reported. “She said she didn’t think of it.”