“Yes.”
I’m not fourteen anymore. What I could do back then?” Cross felt the power stirring to life inside him. He desperately wanted to show them exactly what he was capable of. “That was nothing. I’m not afraid of doing what I have too.”
“I get that. When I tell you I’m in, I’m telling you I’m all in.”
“I would do this alone if I had to, but it would be better if I didn’t.”
“You don’t have to do it alone,” Maizey put a hand on his shoulder. “There are hundreds of us down in those tunnels. Some are too scared, or too young but there are more than enough to amass a respectable force against Tanya and her department.”
“Thank you.” He had meant it when he said he would do it alone. But help was good. It was very good. “When we tried to walk out of there all those years ago, I had no plan. Just arrogance. My powers are stronger than they were then, but I’m also smarter. We need a plan. I want Kale out of there in one piece. Risking his life is not an option.”
“Understood,” Vic said. “Why don’t we introduce Finn to the underground and we can figure out that plan. Maizey is impressive, but she can’t keep the smoke screen up indefinitely.”
Finn looked a bit unnerved. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, but we just walk right out of here? No one will see us?”
Maizey said. “Have a little faith Finnegan.”
“Faith. I’ll get right on that.”
It took everything for Cross not to go to Kale now, but he wouldn’t be helping his brother if he went in with only his anger as a shield. He had to wait, and so did Kale.
I’m coming man. Hold tight.
Chapter 22
VIC AND MAIZEY led them to a homeless shelter not far from Finn’s loft. With Maizey still shielding them in case they had company, Vic walked to the back room and entered a closet and pushed the back wall. The wall slid away and a hidden spiral staircase emerged. Without a word, they followed Vic down into the dark. A back door to the tunnels.
Finn looked down at the impenetrable black. “Have faith,” he whispered and started down one step at a time. About two minutes in light began to leak up from below. After being submersed in total darkness the dim lighting made him squint. The only person who seemed comfortable traversing the stairs without light, was Cross.
“How do you do this all the time?” Finn whispered. His voice was unnaturally loud in the confined space. “It’s terrifying.”
He heard Cross laugh. “It’s amazing what you get used to when you don’t have a choice.”
“Almost there,” Vic said from ahead. The light grew brighter and as they reached the bottom, a soft yellow glow showed Finn the underground. The stairwell opened into a long tunnel that Finn recognized as a subway. A very old, abandoned subway tunnel. Golden arches spanned the ceiling in beautiful mosaic patterns. No rails just concrete and dirt for a floor. Graffiti lined the walls along with tables, chairs. Sleeping bags were strewn about. Small children played in the shadows as their parents or guardians watched them. The adults looked up and gathered the children to them in fear as they entered.
As they recognized Vic and Maizey they visibly relaxed and let the children resume their play.
Tunnels led out of the room at various intervals. “What is this place?” Finn said.
“Exactly what it looks like,” Vic said. “There are dozens of abandoned subway lines all around the city. Most people have no idea what is right below their feet. Some entrances have been completely hidden, others destroyed. This was once the City Hall Line. It’s been abandoned since 1945. People thinks it’s haunted and we try to encourage that belief.”
“Wow. How many live down here?”
“Two hundred more or less. They come and go as they wish as long as they are sure they aren’t being followed. Most have ways to keep their passage undetected,” Vic explained.
A stab of guilt hit Finn. “We did this,” he said. “The Department. We forced these people to live like this.”
“Most of the ones we brought into the Department were rogues, Finn. They were dangerous. Those are the ones who don’t care who they hurt. I have no guilt in handing them over to Tanya and Coben,” Vic said. “But sometimes the innocent ones get caught in the net.”
“I had no idea. There are so many. I didn’t know.” Finn watched a little girl around two or three. She tossed a ball in the air and then kept in there with an invisible force. Finn could see the air shimmer around her as she manipulated the ball. He didn’t know what she was doing, but it was kind of cool. It was also kind of terrifying.
“You!” A man came from one of the tunnels and immediately focused on Finn. He pointed a meaty finger at him. “You’re the cocksucker who brought my boy to that place!” The man ran straight at Finn with a clear agenda. It happened so fast no one had time to react. The man was on Finn in a moment. He tried to dodge the punch but the guy was fast. A fist made exquisite contact with his jaw. Finn went down and the man followed him raining punches to his face and body. Every time Finn thought he could evade the assault, the guy was right there. Finn never got in one punch of his own.
“Will! Calm down.” Vic was on the guy trying to pull him off.
The assault stopped and Finn glanced up. Vic had the guy’s arms pinned behind him. The guy was fighting to get free.
Cross put a hand under Finn’s arm and helped him back to his feet. The room spun a little but he stayed on his feet. He wiped blood from his face with the back of one hand.
“What is he doing here, Vic? You tell me that. What’s this little prick doing in a place we all thought of as safe?” Will looked like he wanted to take Finn apart piece by piece.
“He’s here to help,” an older man said. He wasn’t a big man. His voice was soft, but it was clear the amount of respect he commanded. “I’m sorry, Will, I should have prepared all of you that Vic was bringing him here. I promise you Mr. Doyle was fed false information when he did the things he did for the department, as was my grandson.”
Finn raised his brow at that. Cross’s grandfather?
“I’m sorry for the less than warm welcome Mr. Doyle. But I’m afraid most of the people down here have not have favorable experiences with the Department of Paranormal Research. My name is Charlie. Let me see what I can do about those injuries.”
“It’s okay, he clocked me good, but nothing worth complaining about.”
Charlie held his hands up in acceptance. “Let me know if you change your mind. You might want to get some ice on that eye. It’s already starting to close.”
Finn resisted the temptation to touch his swelling eye.
Will looked resigned, but not so much that he wasn’t ready to give Finn another go. “How is he supposed to help? He’s the reason most of us live down here in the dark.”
Cross stepped in front of Finn. “He has information I need to get my brother out of there. He promised he would help. Trust me, if he doesn’t, if he looks for one second like he’s going to flip, I have no problem putting him down.” Cross’s voice was soft. He held his head at an odd angle as he spoke, as if the words hurt him to speak them.
Finn wasn’t sure if Cross was serious or not.
“Yeah, and why should we be trusting you any better?” Will took a step toward Cross. “No offense Charlie, I understand he’s family, but until just a few days ago we were hiding from this one too.”
“He didn’t know any better, Wills. He does now,” Charlie said.
“Oh, I see, so because he knows ‘better’ now, all is forgiven. All the people, all the children these two have handed over to that place, we’re just supposed to forget about that. We’re supposed to trust them with our lives now?” Will, approached Finn and Cross. “I don’t know about anyone else here, but my trust needs to be earned, not given.” Will had about two inches on Finn and stood in his face glaring down at him. His eyes all hard dark slits. Finn held his ground. The guy had gotten the better of him once. It wouldn’t happened again.
>
“Back off, man,” Finn warned him.
Will stayed where he was.
“It won’t be so easy next time,” Finn said.
Will gave Finn a nasty sneer. “Next time nobody’s going to pull me off you.”
“Yeah, we are all sincerely impressed by the manly display of testosterone. Can we please dial it down a notch or three,” Maizey shouldered her way through the crowd that had been forming a circle around Will, Finn and Cross. She stepped between Will and Finn and shoved Will back with a hand on his chest. “We get it, Will. You don’t like them, you don’t trust them. Too fooking bad, love. Trust or no, these boys just might be our only way to finally shut the Department down for good, or at the very least give us a way to fight back.” She put a hand through Cross’s arm. “So unless you have a better idea, go hate them in private – and quietly. You’re giving me a headache.”
Will didn’t seem very happy about getting dressed down by Maizey in public, but he took a step back. Maizey did not seem impressed or intimidated. Finn was liking this girl just fine.
“If we’re finished getting to know each other,” Charlie said. “I want to discuss strategy and pick Finn’s brain. I need to know how the compound is laid out, security, weapons. I’m sure Cross has questions about Kale.”
“And as important as all that is,” Maizey snugged Cross’s arm to her. “I think you all failed to notice this boy is about ready to drop.” All eyes were suddenly focused on Cross. Finn noticed he swayed slightly under Maizey’s firm grip. His legs bowed a little and his one hand held his head as if it were too heavy to hold up on its own. “I’m afraid he’s not used to tapping into the kind of energy he needed to manifest in front of Kale like he did.” A thin trickle of blood ran from Cross’s nose.
Finn was at Cross’s side in an instant, trying to see behind the reflective lenses. “Jesus, this is what happened before, when he collapsed outside the department. Cross, you okay?”
Cross didn’t answer. “Is he all right?” Finn turned to Charlie who in turn looked to Maizey.
“He just over did it, Love. Help me get him somewhere quiet where he can rest. I’ll take care of him.”
Finn took his partner’s other arm and followed Maizey. “When you’re done Finn,” Charlie said. “Find your way back here. While Cross rests we need to talk.”
Finn nodded and then turned to tend to Cross.
Chapter 23
MAIZEY LED CROSS down a series of tunnels and turns. Finn helped to keep him on his feet, but Maizey sensed the overwhelming fatigue crashing down on him. They stopped outside a small cave-like room that, with the help of soft drapes, pillows and lighting was warm and inviting.
“Put him here.” Maizey pulled back the covers on a small cot and Finn helped Cross onto it. She pulled his shoes off and tried for a convincing grin. “He’ll be all right, Finnegan. Think you can find your way back? Charlie will be waiting on you.”
Finn seemed hesitant to leave Cross. Maizey stood and faced him. “I’m not going to hurt him, love. I understand how hard this must be for you. He’s been your responsibility all these years and now you have to share him.”
“I hate psychics.”
Maizey laughed. “I know. Go on now with you. I’ll take care of your Cross for you.”
Finn paused only a moment turning and walking back into the tunnels.
“He’s worried.” Cross’s voice was soft, his faced pinched and tired.
“Aye, I feel that too. I also know what you’re feeling now as well. Come love, let me help.” Maizey sat on the edge of the bed and took Cross’s dark glasses off. Behind them his eyes were closed. A bright red smear of blood trickled from his nose and trailed down his chin. She took a cloth to wipe it clean when he stopped her.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Just tired. Talking to Kale, I wasn’t expecting it to take so much out of me.”
Maizey pushed his hand down and wiped the blood away. “If that’s all it was, love, I would have let you stay where you dropped. You forget, I can get inside your head too.”
“And I really wish you wouldn’t.”
“Stop being stubborn. What were you planning on doing back there? Falling on your face? You were barely holding it together.”
Cross leaned back into the pillows and sighed. “I hate psychics.” His voice held humor even as his face sagged in exhaustion.
“I know, now, shut up and let me take care of you.” She moved off the bed to get fresh water and rinse the rag. “Now while you lay there and try to be quiet I’ll answer the questions you don’t have to ask. See, there are some advantages to being psychic.”
Cross opened his mouth to say something when she stopped him. “Shh, lay there, be still and listen. You might have learned the truth about who you are and what you are capable of but that doesn’t mean you know how to use that power surging through you just yet. You’re a little out of practice. What you did to make contact with your brother was the equivalent to that of a beginner runner doing a marathon. Right now you’re paying the price for that, understand?”
Cross gave her a small nod. Maizey came back to sit on the bed and placed a warm wet rag on his eyes. The scent of lavender and vanilla filled the room, Cross exhaled and the tension seemed to drain from his body. Maizey placed her hands on either side of Cross’s head and closed her eyes to focus. Maizey didn’t need to dig too deep to know Cross suffered far more than physical pain. The emotional turmoil of discovering what had been done to him, of understanding what his brother had sacrificed for him all these years, ate away at him. He tried to keep everything folded up and buried deep inside of him. But no one had given him a chance to take a breath the last few days let alone compartmentalize his feelings. Maizey could feel the cracks breaking at the surface of the calm he projected. She also knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep the pretense up for much longer.
If Cross lost it, she feared the uncontrolled anger he had let loose when he was younger would look like a minor incident in comparison. She didn’t want to help Cross because she felt sorry for him. She did, but that was beside the point. If Cross didn’t learn to control the volatile mix of power and emotions boiling through him, he might end up destroying them all.
Her fingers gently caressed the side of Cross’s head and she felt him sink deeper into a relaxed state. “I know you’re hurting love, I can help with that.” She kept her voice soft and mellow.
Cross tensed slightly under her hands. “Gabriel told me the same thing not too long ago. That didn’t work out so well, so thanks, but no.” He took her hands and held them between his own.
“I’m not Gabriel. I have nothing to hide from you.”
“Everyone has something to hide, Maizey. No one shows their true selves, everyone tells just enough of the truth to get what they want.”
“Fair enough. What if I showed you the truth of who I am, would that convince you? I would let you in, so you wouldn’t have to exert yourself, no need to go poking around in my head, I’ll lay it all out there for you, the ugly, naked truth. You would know if I was lying to you. If I did that for you, then would you trust me enough to help you?”
“What makes you think I need your help?”
Maizey sighed. “Because Cross, what you fail to understand is terrifyingly clear to me. You have no idea how to handle the powers inside of you. Some of them, you don’t even realize are there. If you don’t let me help, you are going to let that anger you try so very hard to hide, rule you. If you do, none of us are getting out of this alive. The only person who will survive is Kale. If you’re dead, who will save your brother then? Who will care what happens to him when no one alive will he even know he exists? He will belong to Tanya, body and soul until the day he dies.” Maizey meant every word, she had seen it all come to pass as one possible future.
“So if laying myself bare before you is what it takes for you to trust me, then I will show you anything.”
Cross let her hands go. “I wish I could say I cou
ld trust you without doing that –”
“But you can’t,” Maizey finished for him. “I get that. You have been lied to and manipulated your entire life, let me show you there are people out there who are worthy of your trust.” Maizey took his hands and placed them on either side of her head. Cross instinctively understood what to do. She opened her mind to him. For a psychic to do that would be the same as standing naked in front of a crowd. The barriers she kept in place fell, the half-truths we all are comfortable with, dissolved. Maizey allowed Cross Delancey into the most private parts of her soul. Sex wouldn’t have been as intimate as what she and Cross were about to share.
A little girl of six or seven just learning she was different. A mother dead in child birth, a father who never forgave that child for the one thing she could never change, her existence. The forced isolation, the days of no one talking to her. A mean man who fed her and clothed her but starved her emotionally. Being punished for what came naturally to her. Beaten to make her stop what she didn’t know how to control. Growing up, a teenager who knew the things inside of her were bad, they were wrong. Ashamed for who, and what she was, but hating the man who was her father, for keeping her this way. Resentment kept her soul company. It fed on her misery and nursed her hatred.
Anger made her strong, so she let that anger take her over. Ambushing her father as he came to feed her was easy. The door unlocked and she pulled him inside, the anger a force within her – she was so strong. She didn’t realize he was dead until she saw the blood. He wasn’t supposed to die, she only wanted –out!
Stupid drunk, stupid daddy. Fell and hit his head. The fire was an accident, the candles that lit her small room fell with him. The cheap worn carpet went up with a whoosh! And suddenly the curtains were an angry hungry flame that ate everything in its path. She stood there until it was almost too late and then the way to the door was blocked. The flames searching for her. Finding her.
The fire had tasted her but she survived. Charlie had found out about her through his information network. He had watched her and now he had saved her.
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