Unyielding (Out of the Box Book 11)
Page 32
“That was something Eric wanted to do,” Cassidy said quietly, lapsing into silent contemplation for a moment before going on. “So … you’re not mad about all the things I—”
“I don’t think we’re going to be friends anytime soon,” I said, causing Cassidy to seem to retreat within herself, “but … look at me.” I laughed. “I’m a criminal and you’re not, now. Keep it that way, don’t cross me, and … you’ll be fine.”
“I … hope I don’t ever see you again,” Cassidy said. I could tell she meant it.
“That makes two of us,” I said, slipping out the window. “The serum, though …”
“I had to give him the formula,” she said, following me to the window. “I had to make it for him. But … I don’t think he was the only one after it.”
I felt a little chill, remembering Harmon’s crack about other people trying to kill me. Ones I hadn’t met yet. “You think he had a backer?”
“Maybe.” Cassidy’s face got a little pinched. “But it doesn’t make much sense, does it? Anyone who was backing him … they’d get their brain taken over by him the moment he got that boost, wouldn’t they?”
“Unless they were an empath, I guess,” I said, floating just out the window. “Or a boosted telepath themselves?”
“Who’d want to subject themselves to that?” Cassidy asked, peering out at me. “I mean … that’s as close to hell as I can imagine, personally.”
“You’re not the only one,” I grunted. “But Harmon did seem to suggest … there was somebody else who had his back. Somebody else helping him.”
“He did manage to call in a hit squad from Revelen,” Cassidy said. “They’re a country in Eastern Europe—” she started to say, as though I were a moron.
“I know where Revelen is,” I snapped. “And it’s not the first time I’ve had trouble come from that direction lately.” Not even close. “Unfortunately, I’m not welcome in Europe right now, and I’m not welcome here in the US—”
“It’s a cold and lonely world,” Cassidy said, with a strange amount of sincerity.
“So long, Cassidy. Remember—”
“I’ll stay out of trouble,” she promised, never taking her eyes off me as she shut the window. For some reason … I believed her.
103.
Scott
He barely realized his phone was ringing until he picked it up. He was staring through the window at a baby in the ICU, still healing from the gunshot wound the child had suffered. Scott blinked, the sounds of beeping around him like a dull lullaby, nurses moving to and fro speaking in hushed whispers.
“Hello?” he answered the phone.
“Dude,” J.J. said, sounding a little rough on the other end, “where are you?”
“Cheyenne, Wyoming,” Scott answered without conscious thought. He felt … exhausted. Not just from the fight and Harmon using him like a sock puppet, but from … whatever that serum had unleashed in him. He could feel the power throbbing through him, straining to be used. Every single fixture in the hospital that thrummed with water, every sink, every water fountain … Scott could feel it. The pipes were like veins in the walls that he could almost see, and that was something he’d never experienced before. “I’m at the hospital.”
“You okay?” J.J. asked.
“I’m …” Scott’s voice trailed off. “I don’t know.”
“Are you wounded?”
“Not as such, no,” Scott said, staring at the baby beneath the thick screen of plastic. He reached out and touched the window between them.
“Good, cuz … shit is hitting the fan here, man,” J.J. said. “What happened with Sienna?”
“We fought,” Scott said. “She won. Harmon lost.”
“Whaaaaat? What the hell did the president have to do with it?”
“He was … never mind,” Scott said. “What do you want?”
“Director Phillips asked me to call you,” J.J. said. “Which … can anyone explain why I’m working for this douche again?”
“Mind control,” Scott said.
“That … would explain it, if true,” J.J. said, somewhere between skepticism and amusement. “Anyway, the president is missing, dude. Gone. Huge hole in the wall of the Oval Office, and he’s just—kaput. I mean, we suspect Sienna, but … there’s not anything tying her to the scene. Friday’s missing, too, and we’ve got video footage of him fleeing the scene sometime—probably—before Harmon disappeared.”
“Yes,” Scott said quietly, “well … good riddance.”
“Ummm, that’s our boss.”
“Your boss,” Scott said. “I’m done.”
“I don’t think Director Phillips is going to want to hear that …”
“I don’t care what he wants to hear,” Scott said, a bracing amount of give-a-shit flying loose of him.
“I won’t be passing that along to him,” J.J. said. “So … any idea where Sienna is?”
“No clue.”
“Hmm,” J.J. said. “Maybe she’s in Wakanda.”
“Where?”
“Never mind,” J.J. said. “Reed would have gotten it. Speaking of … I can’t seem to reach him. Or Augustus. Are they …?”
“They’re fine … ish,” Scott corrected. “I suspect you’re going to get their resignations, though.”
“I don’t blame them,” J.J. said. “I’m thinking about quitting again myself.”
“You should.”
“Maybe I will.”
“Maybe you will—what?” The voice of Andrew Phillips broke in on the other side of the line, blaring in Scott’s ear.
“I quit,” J.J. said. “Peace, Scotty.” And then there was the sound of a phone being fumbled.
“Byerly?” Phillips asked. The sound of J.J. shouting something profane in the background almost overpowered the sound of his voice.
“I’m here.”
“You need to get back to Washington now,” Phillips said. “This place is coming apart.”
“Well, I’ll cry some salty tears over that,” Scott said reflexively.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Scott said.
“Get back to headquarters,” Phillips said. “We have an investigation to mount, and none of your team is responding.”
Scott almost told him where to stick his investigation, and the team. They were all gone, and all the better for it, really. He imagined it’d be a while before anyone saw Reed again, anyway. He was going to be spending some time climbing out of the hole he was in. Scott felt more than a little bad about it, but … He stared through the window. I have guilt of my own to work through.
“Byerly,” Phillips said with more urgency. “Did you hear me? We have work to do. Nealon’s off the radar again, and the president’s missing. These events are probably connected. We need to get to work on this.”
He almost said it—what he was thinking. Something stopped him, though.
She stole my memories.
“Are you there?”
But they’re hunting her because of a bullshit investigation the president put in place. They think she’s a villain …
I thought she was a villain.
“Byerly?”
But she’s not.
“I’m here,” Scott said, and somehow … the decision was made. He stared through the glass. I’ve got guilt to work through. And it’s not going to get excised by just standing here … “I’ll catch the next flight,” he said, and hung up.
I didn’t ask for this job …
The baby stirred, making a whining noise, and Scott had to turn away quickly lest he be tempted to shatter the glass, reach in, try and give the child some comfort. A nurse was making her way over anyway. That’s not my job, either …
My job is to catch Sienna Nealon.
He smiled thinly, the only one in on a private joke.
I’m going to be the absolute worst at this job … and just maybe … somewhere, somehow …
… I’ll find a way to clear her name.
Taking a deep
breath, Scott turned from the ICU window and headed for the elevator. He had a lot of work to do. Badly, but work, nonetheless.
104.
Sienna
I picked up Zollers from the roof of the hotel and carried him off down the street, grounding us both in Fairfax, Virginia, out of sight in a park. “You hear all that?” I asked, once we were safely down and nestled in a copse of trees where no prying eyes or ears could hear or see us.
“Through you, yes,” he said, looking as serious as he ever did. “Sounds like you’ve got more enemies out there.”
“What else is new?” A beat. “My team is out there, somewhere …” I waved my hand. “Harry, Veronika, Colin, Kat … Taneshia, Jamal …”
“Augustus is coming, too,” Zollers said. “He’s snapped out of Harmon’s spell.”
I made a sound of disgust deep in my throat at the thought of Harmon’s effects on my friends. “Where’s Reed?”
Zollers frowned. “I … don’t know. Out there somewhere. He’s …” His expression shifted to concern. “He’s in distress. In pain.”
“Dammit.” I cursed the new presence in my head. Somehow, I’d gotten the less raw end of this deal than Reed had. “What about Scott?”
“He’s a little more … settled,” Zollers said. “Augustus is racing to meet up with your group.” He didn’t suggest the obvious, which meant he already knew what I was thinking. Instead he took the long way around. “They’re just across the Potomac, you know. Waiting for you. Wondering what to do.”
“You should go tell them what to do,” I said. “Go home.”
“Sienna—”
“This fight is over,” I said, keeping up my stern facade, even though he knew—he knew—I was dying inside. “Even if they manage to overlook Harmon’s death, I’m still wanted for that incident in Eden Prairie. The public is still against me because of my past getting revealed by the president …” I shrugged. “However I might have hoped this fight went, I basically got out of it with the least good solution—which is to say I didn’t lose, because I saved the day, but I’m still kinda screwed.”
Zollers took a moment to compose a reply. “You saved the world.”
“Again,” I said, singsongy once more. It kept me from crying. “But no one will know, and no one cares. I’m a criminal, Doc.”
“You have friends. Friends who would help you—”
“Aiding and abetting a known fugitive is a felony,” I said, smiling faintly. “Trust me. It’s a thing. I should know, I used to enforce it. Speaking of which … you should probably go.”
“Any one of them would help you,” Zollers said, “and so would I. All you need do is ask.”
“I can’t think of anything I need help with right now,” I said, smiling sadly. “And they’ve done enough already. So have you.”
I could see the resignation sprout up as he looked at me. “Be careful, Sienna. Being alone … it’s not good for you. It’s not good for anyone,” he amended, “but especially not for you.”
“It’s how it has to be,” I said, lifting off into the air. I’d need to go high, high up, maybe head south …
And also? Find some clothes, I realized as Zollers politely averted his eyes to avoid staring straight into my bare crotch, which Harmon’s jacket did not quite cover at this angle.
It’s not how it has to be, Zollers sent me, it’s how you’re choosing to play it.
“It’s better this way,” I said, hoping he could hear me. And really … it was better. Easier.
For everyone but me.
Epilogue
Location Unknown
President Gerry Harmon appeared to be dead. That was not an immense surprise to the Watcher. He’d been an arrogant man, thinking he ruled the whole world. He did not, though, and his death at the hands of such an enemy—her, of course—was to be expected. Harmon had been getting out of hand in any case, his plans bleeding out and threatening other endeavors.
That was the problem with creating a coalition of powerful people the world over. Ambitions clashed. The Watcher kept an eye on these things from a distance, perhaps not as closely as he might have liked, but that was just as well. Wherever the Watcher went, good tidings did not follow.
The Watcher sat in the darkness, contemplating the United States. Losing the head of the country was a minor setback, at worst. There were other avenues they could take if, for some reason, something was required from that nation. Other events were more pressing, in any case. The situation in Scotland, for instance, was beginning to reach a boil …
But it was still comfortably within expectations. Sienna Nealon, though … she was a pestilence, the Watcher thought. Even more dangerous now that she was on the run. She had little to lose, and that meant when cornered she might be capable of increasingly desperate maneuvers.
No, that wouldn’t do. Someone would have to deal with her. Someone would deal with her, he was sure. And if not …
Well, it would come to the Watcher killing her, sooner or later. The thought did not bother him. He had killed worse, after all.
He took a breath of the stale air, taking in the silence around him, and turned his eyes to the place where the Sleeper waited. “Rest easy,” he said, though he knew the Sleeper could not hear him. “All is … as it should be.”
This was true. The world was in its proper shape. Soon enough, the interval would pass, and the Sleeper would waken.
And if she were not already dead by then … Sienna Nealon would surely die after the awakening.
Sienna Nealon Will Return in
Hollow
Out of the Box, Book 12
Coming January 17, 2017!
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Author's Note
For the last couple years, the two biggest requests I've gotten as relates to Sienna were, 1) Give her a boyfriend, and 2) Put more souls in her head. This year, I answered both requests! BWAHAHAHAHA! (That's my maniacal laugh. I'm still working on it.) The moral of the story is that you want to be very careful what you ask me for, because I'm never going to give it to you in the way you expect, for that would be boring.
A few pages after this modest note you'll find an updated list of upcoming Out of the Box books coming out in 2017. Just titles and approximate release months, if you're into that sort of thing. If you want to know immediately when future books become available, take sixty seconds and sign up for my NEW RELEASE EMAIL ALERTS by CLICKING HERE. I don't sell your information and I only send out emails when I have a new book out. The reason you should sign up for this is because I don't always set release dates, and even if you're following me on Facebook (robertJcrane (Author)) or Twitter (@robertJcrane), it's easy to miss my book announcements because...well, because social media is an imprecise thing.
Come join the discussion on my website: http://www.robertjcrane.com!
Cheers,
Robert J. Crane
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Editorial/Literary Janitorial duties performed by Sarah Barbour and Jeffrey Bryan. Final proofing was handled by Jo Evans. Any errors you see in the text, however, are the result of me rejecting changes. I owe a special apology to Jo for boobtacularly forgetting her incredible acknowledgments to the Sanctuary Series as I was thanking everybody in volume eight. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa on that one, Jo.
The cover was once more designed masterfully by Karri Klawiter of Artbykarri.com.
The formatting was provided by nickbowmanediting.com. Well, by Nick, anyway.
Once more
, thanks to my parents, my in-laws, my kids and my wife, for helping me keep things together.
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
World of Sanctuary
Epic Fantasy
Defender: The Sanctuary Series, Volume One
Avenger: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Two
Champion: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Three
Crusader: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Four
Sanctuary Tales, Volume One - A Short Story Collection
Thy Father's Shadow: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 4.5
Master: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Five
Fated in Darkness: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 5.5
Warlord: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Six
Heretic: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Seven
Legend: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Eight
A Haven in Ash: Ashes of Luukessia Trilogy, Volume One* (Coming Late 2016/Early 2017!)
Ghosts of Sanctuary: The Revenants Series, Volume One* (Coming 2018, at earliest.)
The Girl in the Box
and
Out of the Box
Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Alone: The Girl in the Box, Book 1
Untouched: The Girl in the Box, Book 2
Soulless: The Girl in the Box, Book 3
Family: The Girl in the Box, Book 4
Omega: The Girl in the Box, Book 5
Broken: The Girl in the Box, Book 6
Enemies: The Girl in the Box, Book 7
Legacy: The Girl in the Box, Book 8
Destiny: The Girl in the Box, Book 9
Power: The Girl in the Box, Book 10
Limitless: Out of the Box, Book 1
In the Wind: Out of the Box, Book 2
Ruthless: Out of the Box, Book 3
Grounded: Out of the Box, Book 4