“Thank you, sir. I really appreciate this.” Vincent hung up. “He’s good. He’s willing to validate our investigation if anyone decides to call him about us. We’re not going to be breaking any laws. He’s…wary, but he’s got a lot riding on this.”
“If we’re wrong, we all go down. We’re not wrong.” She was confident. It was one of the WMC, maybe even the one Dina had a feeling about. First they needed the evidence.
And Sawyer wanted to know, so bad, what idiot pushed the Triad past their limit, forced them to get sloppy. Those three were unstoppable, given time and their resources. They had a failure rate of zero, until her, and she had a feeling that she was only still alive because they were being pushed to do things that didn’t show them as the professionals they were.
“Let’s head out.” He waved her and Jasper to follow him out of the room, but she didn’t immediately jump up. Instead, she looked towards the window. Night had fallen. Her fingers itched. Her mask would be great for this.
No.
She was here as a Probationary Agent of the IMPO. Not a professional criminal. The mask was unnecessary.
She jumped up and followed him after reminding herself of that. It was time to do her job.
They rode in silence. They already knew how this would play out. They would investigate the new Head of Council first. He was top of the list thanks to Dina and her boys. Thank the gods for them, that entire family. She never thought she would think that. Thank the gods for the D’Angelos.
She shook her head at the thought. Ridiculous and appropriate.
“I have a feeling,” she said finally, as they pulled into the parking garage across the street, “that something is going to happen tonight.”
“Why?” Jasper asked. “After what happened last night-”
“Exactly. Whoever is behind this is pushing the Triad, and pushing them hard. They’re sloppy, in a sense. Mind you, if me and the guys hadn’t been there, there would be dead WMC Council members. They aren’t bad, but they had to get a getaway driver.”
“I think you surviving the first attempt fucked up their plans,” Vincent added. “And now they’re off the plan. They’re trying to catch up. You were the target yesterday. It means they really want you dead before continuing. They sent all three after you. You get in their way, unlike anyone else.”
“I know - just look at how good I made the security for the WMC. And look at you guys. We’re riding their asses, and whoever it is, well, they’re about to know. If they had killed me back at the house, you all would have been ineffectual in this. An entire strong team of IMPO Special Agents, out of the problem. Instead, we all came to New York.”
“So you think they will continue to try and push and pressure. To get their plans back on track.”
“Yeah, because the Triad isn’t stupid, but whoever hired them sure is.” Sawyer got out of the car and began walking for the WMC building. The guys jumped out and followed her.
She walked up to the first guard, flanked by Vincent and Jasper, but didn’t say anything.
“We’re here to continue our investigation of who is behind the assassinations. Please, let us in.” Vincent sounded so much better than the IMAS guards, like he lived in a different world, one that was leagues from the foot soldiers.
“Sir, no one is allowed in the building after hours.”
“You can take that up with Director Thompson.”
“No, sir, you don’t understand. Councilman Suarez has expressly stated that under no circumstance can anyone enter this building. He believes it’s a security risk.” The guard sighed. “If anything, he’s very paranoid of someone, like…bombing the building. That’s the reason he gave, anyway. He thinks it could be anyone on the security teams too, or even the IMPO. He’s been in there all night, thinking it’s safer than going to the safe house made ‘safe’ by the assassin.” The guard’s eyes fell on her and Sawyer raised an eyebrow. The gaze quickly fell. “I don’t think that. But seriously, I can’t lose my job. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
“Interesting…” Vincent murmured, turning away. As a group, they walked back to the parking garage, but once out of sight of anyone, she grabbed each of them and cloaked.
“I can’t hold this long, but we’re all trained. If we hurry, I can get us into the building.”
“There’s no color,” the Italian noted, looking around.
“I should have warned you.”
“I noticed the same thing my first time too,” Jasper said to him, as they turned again and began walking back towards the building.
Sawyer had gotten a good enough read on the guard to know he was a weak enough Magi that she could get nearly twenty feet from him before he even could begin to feel her magic in the night. That gave her more than enough space to get the guys to the side of the building.
They watched a roaming patrol walk away at that moment. Since she’d been a part of the security team, she had spent some time looking over the guards for the actual WMC building. She didn’t have a say in it, but she knew the system they had.
In less than a minute, another patrol would walk around the building.
“Move,” she hissed, nodding to a window. Neither of the guys questioned it. Once there, she was pleased to see Vincent and Jasper each get in by their own ways. Vincent sublimated and slid through a tiny crack, the window not sealed properly. Jasper walked straight through the wall. She went Jasper’s route, going through.
“Where are we?” their leader asked inside.
“A restroom, obviously,” she answered, going to check the stalls first. No one was there and the guards were outside. “Fun fact, the building should be fairly clear now. Most of the security is outside. There’s no cameras in here.”
“Suarez is here, so his security team should be as well,” Vincent reminded her. “Also, quite paranoid of him to decide to hide in this building and keep everyone out of it, no matter the reason. I don’t like his implication that it’s someone on security trying to do this.”
“Think the paranoia might make him innocent?”
Sawyer frowned at Jasper’s question. It was a solid point. Getting power in a situation like this made Suarez a bigger target. He could have easily freaked out and gone off the deep end.
“We’ll keep that in consideration.” Vincent was diplomatic about it. “How do you want to do this?” That was directed at her again.
“I can keep us cloaked, but it’s a drain. I think we might just be able to sneak. We’re not the Triad, so another Magi could feel us anyway and it’s all over.” She didn’t really see them getting out of this without being caught. It was why her plan had involved the ‘proper channels’ originally. Sometimes, to get something done, you had to go with the right way. “You know what weirds me out? This Suarez didn’t tell anyone outside the building that they weren’t allowed in. Like, that’s something the IMPO needed to know.”
“I won’t argue with that; it is uncomfortable.” Vincent leaned on the wall, crossing his arms. “I’m going to text James, let him know, before we get moving.”
They all waited for that and, as a unit, left the restroom together. She was right; there were no guards patrolling the hallways that she could see. There would be cameras and a security team watching them, but she had a feeling that in a building the size of the WMC, not all the cameras could be watched at once.
She had never studied the blueprints of the WMC, because they weren’t public record and would never be available to the public. She knew the few copies of them that existed were kept under lock and key, only pulled out if renovations or repairs were needed. Even then, the person viewing them only saw a small portion of the full picture, the part they needed.
She did know where the cameras were, though, and kept her head down, knowing the guys would follow her lead.
They took the stairs to the third floor, where the Council members’ offices were, but they didn’t leave the stairwell immediately.
“Should we each
do a room? We would move faster.” It had been their plan to do each room as a team, but that had been when they were planning on legally being in the building. Now, she figured they needed the speed.
“Yes. Let’s move.”
She opened the door to leave the stairwell and narrowed her eyes at a completely empty hallway. There should have been some sort of security if Suarez’s office was on the floor, but there was nothing. No one. She couldn’t even hear a guard walking around. The silence was almost too much.
“We got lucky,” Jasper muttered, sliding past her. She watched him phase into the first office. She didn’t find it lucky.
She found it out of place.
She watched Vincent go to the next closest office and sublimate to slide underneath the crack of the door. This was why they were the ones doing this. The three of them had more elusive abilities, and it was hard for anyone to keep them out of anything.
She didn’t go in the third office, her gut telling her to find out why there was no sound. She rounded a corner, then another. Still no guards. She eventually lost the tension in her shoulders, the one where she knew she was slinking around and could get caught.
There was no one to catch her.
Her eyes narrowed on a door with a name plaque. She’d passed a few of the Council members’ offices at this point and was near the one that should have had guards posted at the door.
There was still no one.
She stepped closer to the door and began to listen, something going cold in her. They would know she was out there, and for a moment, under her fury, she was okay with that.
“How is she here?” a rich, masculine asked. “No one should be in the building. I’m the Head of Council. They should all be following my orders. And she should be dead. He said she would only get in my way, every step of it, and he was right.”
“She’s a rogue,” Naseem whispered. “She was, from all the rumors, never very good at following the orders of her superiors. She’s also an expert. Axel made her very good at what she does. I knew killing her would be a challenge.”
“Yes, that was mentioned once by Axel in his interrogations. It made me wary of her working for the WMC and IMPO.”
She pulled open the door at that, staring down the man behind the desk. That was a name she hadn’t wanted to hear tonight. Suarez was an attractive man, Latino with brilliant brown eyes. He was put together and looked every bit a Councilman.
Naseem stood to his left, like he had turned to look at the door when he’d been facing Suarez previously.
Before she could step inside, a shield slammed down in front of her.
That just pissed her off. She turned to the third body in the room, her eyes narrowing. He was wearing an IMPO uniform, the standard black, but without the heavy firearms the IMAS soldiers carried around.
Fucking dirty-ass cops. Dirty politicians.
The WMC didn’t need her to ruin their reputation. They were very good at doing it themselves.
“I take it you’re the getaway driver,” she crooned. “I have a bone to pick with you too.” She turned for a moment, knowing that shield kept them all safe from each other. “Vincent! Here!”
“Coming. Jasper as well.”
She waited patiently, that something cold in her taking over. She went back to giving the Councilman, the assassin, and the IMPO agent the blank stare she knew she had on her face.
It took Vincent and Jasper only seconds to find her, and in turn, the group shielded in the office. Vincent narrowed his eyes at them as Jasper pulled out his phone, took a quick picture and sent it to someone.
“That was to Thompson,” he explained. “Should be enough evidence.”
“Naseem, make sure you take care of that for me,” Suarez said casually. “Tonight.”
“Of course,” the assassin whispered. Then he phased down through the floor.
“Go,” Vincent ordered her. “Stop him. We’ll handle these two.”
She didn’t bother giving a response, dropping down as well, before anything else could be said to her. She landed in a large meeting room, Naseem in front of her.
“Are you ready to finish this, Shadow?”
“Are you?” she asked, unsheathing a dagger. She hadn’t been unarmed since that night. Even in James’ condo, her weapons had been close enough to have them within a second of waking up.
The rust had worn off. Now it was time to see who was better.
28
Jasper
“Who is this agent?” Vincent asked softly, pointing to the IMPO agent in the room with the Councilman.
“Special Agent Deacon,” the man answered. “You’re Vincent Castello and your buddy is Jasper Williams. Now that introductions are out of the way, I think you two should turn around and walk away from this.”
“Why?” Jasper asked, glaring at the other agent. “Why are you working to undermine everything our people have built?”
“Because the world is a fucked up place, tied up in red tape. Suarez believes that with a single ruler, the Magi world can be better. One vision, and everyone working to that goal. Not fifteen ideas of what’s right and wrong and everyone arguing about it.”
“Power.” Vincent’s answer was much simpler. “You’re power-hungry. Tell me, had any long chats with my brother? He’s power-hungry too. Believes he can rule the world, make it in his image. The only reason he was ever caught was due to a moment of insanity, an obsession that wouldn’t release him from its hold.”
Such a casual reference of Axel, but Jasper knew the reason. The WMC had Axel, and Axel was charismatic and intelligent. He also was helpful now. The model prisoner. It would make sense that someone looking to overthrow their government would go to him.
“Naseem should be done with Shadow now,” Suarez said casually to Deacon. “Handle these two for me while he handles the Director. Can’t have Thompson in power anyway. He’s too good. I need someone a bit more…flexible.”
“Where’s Kalama?” Vincent asked softly. “Tell me. If I’m going to die, let me hear the plan that I couldn’t figure out.”
Jasper didn’t like the way he was talking. He didn’t like that Vincent felt like he didn’t know.
“Kalama is taking care of the rest of the WMC. Heard you had a chat with D’Angelo today. Interesting, since you and she hate each other. She’ll be going first.”
“I’m so fucking tired of power-hungry maniacs.” Jasper crossed his arms, but it didn’t make him any less ready for a fight.
“Me too,” his friend whispered. “Well, Deacon. Come try to kill us.”
The shield dropped and reformed over just the Councilman, who stayed seated in his chair.
“He has shielding, petrification, and-”
A boom cut Vincent off. Jasper figured out what the last power was. Sound manipulation. Deacon had only snapped his fingers. The boom shook the building and was strong enough to send both of them back into the wall on the other side of the hallway.
Jasper scrambled to get moving, pulling his sidearm. He felt a shield clamp down over him, preventing his first shot from hitting its target. He’d been bubbled in, and the bullet ricocheted around him.
“Shit!” He tried one more shot, hoping to crack the shield. That bullet bounced and sliced over his arm. “Fuck me!”
Deacon went for Vincent, who sublimated and got around behind him before reforming. When he was human again, Vin already had a small blade out, going for a strike at Deacon’s back.
Deacon spun, just as well-trained, his fingers finding a grasp on Vincent’s wrist, skin to skin.
Jasper knew the moment Vin lost the internal battle of who would petrify who. Vincent was still breathing but nothing else. His eyes were narrowed, still locked in the focus of attack.
The traitor grinned. “Kids. You think you can win every fight.” He took the dagger out of Vincent’s hand.
Jasper roared, firing the rest of his magazine into the shield, and Deacon slid the dagger into Vincent as the last two
shots made cracks.
Out of ammo, he kicked the shield as hard as he could with his fake leg. It would tolerate the force he was putting into it.
The shield shattered, sending a small shockwave of power out.
Deacon stumbled, glaring at him, the dagger out of Vincent’s gut already.
Jasper rushed to his feet and tackled the man before he could react. He disarmed the enemy, taking the dagger. He had it in Deacon’s chest before anything else could be done.
“No. Not another one of my teammates.” Jasper growled down at him as the life left the agent’s eyes. He felt feral like Quinn. Angry like Sawyer. He thought of what this man had done to Vincent. Thought of what he did to Elijah.
A thump behind him had him turning from the dead body underneath him.
Vincent was on the floor, holding the wound on his stomach. Jasper jumped up and pulled up his friend’s shirt to look at it. Blood was everywhere.
He glared at the Councilman trying to walk out, taking Vincent’s gun and aiming at the man. “If you move from that spot, I’ll just shoot you.”
Suarez raised his hands and went down to his knees in defeat.
“You don’t have any offensive magic. Telepathy and aura reading. Good abilities. Worthless in this case.” Jasper was furious. “You have dishonored our people. You have destroyed the trust I have in the WMC. I’m going to watch you fall for it.”
“Jasper…call nine one one.” Vincent groaned.
Jasper cursed, keeping his gun trained on the Councilman with one hand as he pulled out his phone. He dialed, put it on speaker, then dropped it on the floor. He pressed his free hand to the gut wound, hoping to slow the bleeding.
He yelled at the operator. He needed someone to get to him, and he needed them now.
29
James
When night fell, James watched Dina send her boys to bed. Her nephews. Her very odd nephews.
“Do you really think its Suarez?” he asked calmly. They hadn’t spoken of anything important the entire time the children were in the room.
The Redemption Saga Box Set Page 128