“Were they Stripes?” he asked, using his own term for Shadow Spore that had more or less become accepted among the Skinners.
“Yep. What did you find?” she said to the younger man.
“Not a lot,” Steve replied.
“Just shooting up the neighbors, huh? No wonder everyone hates Americans.”
“There were a few Stripes playing cards and one feeding off a trashy lookin’ redhead,” Rico told her. “They were armed to the teeth, but weren’t quick enough to put us down.” When they got to the car and piled in, Rico couldn’t have looked more grateful. “Them guys obviously weren’t guarding much of anything. You sure you can trust what you found?”
“We’ll see about that when I get it all deciphered,” she said while rolling her window down to fill her lungs with a few long breaths. “I don’t know if I did the technical stuff perfectly, but I got some pretty interesting files.”
“How interesting?”
“Most were in code or marked by gibberish, but a few were plain as day. One was labeled ‘Skinner Contacts.’ ”
“Did you get a chance to look it over?”
After rounding another corner, Paige came to a stop well away from the duplex that had been shot up. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I did. Even saw a name on there I recognized.”
“You should be the one answering questions,” Steve replied. “We found records that said you were the one working with traitors.”
Rico’s arms came up as if they’d been spring-loaded. The Mossberg’s wide, menacing barrel looked at her like a soulless, unblinking eye. “That’s right,” he grunted. “What do ya got to say about that?”
“We have to get out of here,” Steve said urgently. “Right now.”
Although she was reluctant to take her eyes off of him, Paige knew the guy in the backseat was right. They had to get moving.
“Go on,” Rico said with every bit of the urgency she was feeling. “Get the hell away from here. And if I even think you’re trying to do something cute, I’ll blow a hole through you, your door, and anyone driving by.”
Paige’s experience with the shotgun made her absolutely certain he wasn’t bluffing. Sirens wailed in the distance. People stared from their windows. A few even walked outside to look down the street. Although Rico’s shotgun now rested across his lap, it was still pointed at her. Stopping at a red light, she turned to look into the eyes of the man beside her. “Who are those friends you mentioned? The ones who you said might like my style.”
When Rico’s eyes drifted to the backseat, Steve shrugged and said, “You should tell us about them.”
“They’re students of Jonah Lancroft,” Paige said. “They study his journals. Some even talked to him over the course of the last few years. It’s pretty interesting stuff. There’s some shit in those notes about shapeshifters that I’ve never heard before.”
“Like what?” Steve asked as he leaned forward. “What did the notes say?”
Paige ignored the younger Skinner and said to Rico, “You stood with me and Cole when that Mud Flu was getting people killed. If we didn’t do anything about it, more would have died. Daniels told me that disease could have gotten worse over time. Thousands could have been killed and that was all Lancroft’s doing.”
“He wouldn’t have let it get that far,” Rico assured her. “He was a smart man.”
“Do you seriously regret putting Lancroft down like the sick animal he was?”
“I thought we were doing the right thing at the time, but he was the purest Skinner we’ve ever had,” Rico said in a voice fueled by indignant fire. “There’s something to be said for taking extreme measures to fight an extreme problem. After what happened in Kansas City, the Half Breed problem was out of control. We couldn’t have done anything more than just run around killing however many of those things we could find. What about the ones we couldn’t find? What about the ones the Full Bloods created to replace the dead Half Breeds?”
“It’s the same problem as before,” she insisted. “It’s a balance we’ve stricken. Skinners and Half Breeds. Us and Nymar. They do their thing and we do ours. It’s a shitty way to live for us, but we’re part of the ecosystem.”
Rico let out a single grunting laugh. “Green light.” After Paige slammed her foot on the gas and sent Steve flopping back into his seat, the big man said, “You can’t seriously believe that tree hugging bullshit you were spouting.”
“What else is there?”
“Lancroft devoted his life to figuring out how those things work,” he said, as if he’d been waiting for months to deliver those words. “Shapeshifters, Nymar, even shit we don’t know about. He tore them down, looked inside and wrote what he found so we could all learn from it.”
“Then how come we all thought he was dead until we found him in Philly? How come the only legacy he left behind was a collapsed insane asylum and Henry? You’d think such a great man would be more of a presence or leave something a little better for the rest of us.”
“He did. We just weren’t the ones to get it.”
When he heard that, Steve leaned forward again. Paige noticed, however, that he was cautious not to get close enough to draw much attention.
She drove for another few blocks, retracing her steps to the expressway that had brought her to Cobb’s neighborhood. Only after they’d gone a few more miles did she feel comfortable enough to let her shoulders come down from around her ears. The fact that Rico still had his shotgun pointed at her was a threat that was beyond her control for the moment, and she took a small amount of comfort from that. Once she had a chance to do something or make a move, she’d go back to worrying.
“What did Lancroft leave behind?” she asked.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s some good stuff. It’d be stupid of me to tell you more.”
“You should tell us,” Steve said. “We’re supposed to be on the same side.”
“But we’re not,” Rico snapped. “There’s always been more’n one way of doing things. Hell, it ain’t like there’s anything better than legend for us to go by, and even that’s just a buncha crap. All that separates legend from Internet rumor is what the words are written on.”
“You’re not sure she can be trusted,” Steve guessed.
“No. I’m not.” After watching the road for a few seconds, Rico said, “I’ve made plenty of mistakes. Turning my back on a partner ain’t one of ’em.”
Paige swerved around a few of the slower cars, then took a poignant glance at the shotgun across his lap. “You’re sure about that?”
“Heh. Point taken. This ain’t my first choice, just like you keep saying about flying off to leave Cole to rot in Denver.”
Steve gripped the back of Rico’s seat as Paige took a corner fast enough to slide him against the door. “That’s not good enough,” he said.
“What the fuck do you know about any of this?” she asked. “I don’t even know who the hell you are.”
“I’m one of you!” Steve replied. “And I’ve heard about what happened, just like everyone else.”
That hit Paige deeply, but didn’t erase the scowl from her face.
“Rico can vouch for me.”
“It’s like I told ya,” Rico said. “I’ve known Steve here for a little while and he’s proven to be on the right side of the fence. We just need to make sure we’re all in that same spot. There’s a lot of changing going on these days, and it’s the sort of thing Jonah Lancroft saw comin’ from a mile away. Some of us are willing to do what’s gotta be done and some aren’t. Lancroft made it his business to reach out to those of us that are suited for the task.”
“And when did he make this offer to you?” she scoffed. “Before or after you came along with me and Cole to put him down?”
Behind them, lights flashed from atop police cars that sped toward the duplexes the Skinners had blasted apart. Rico barely acknowledged the commotion as he shifted in his seat and said, “I was contacted after I put the word out that the
old man was dead.”
“Which old man are you talking about? Lancroft or Ned?” Paige asked, knowing how close Rico had been to the older Skinner who lived in St. Louis. “You remember Ned, don’t you? He was the guy who owned the house that you live in when you’re not on the run. He’s the guy who taught you how to read those runes that have been cropping up more and more lately. He’s also the guy that Lancroft killed during that whole Mud Flu outbreak.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Steve insisted. “There are bigger things at stake. First of all, you should tell us where to find these men who follow Dr. Lancroft so closely.”
Paige turned to look at him. Her eyes lingered on him even when it bordered on being a detriment to her driving. She’d been uncertain about the other Skinner several times before, but had always put her fears to rest one way or another.
Rico nodded and adjusted the shotgun so it was sure to kill Paige even if it went off by accident. “They’re based out of Louisville,” Rico said. “That’s all I know right now. I been looking into these guys ever since I started digging into the shit that Ned was into. They’re barely organized, but with all that’s happened lately, they’ve been pulling together real quick.”
“Speaking of our last business with Ned,” Paige said, “you seem to glaze right over the Mud Flu thing. Did you forget that Lancroft made that to infect people so they’d be attacked by Nymar and shapeshifters?”
“And when they were attacked, the flu killed those bloodsuckers and the shapeshifters,” Rico said. “Extreme actions for hard times. That’s what created Skinners in the first place. We step up when everybody else backs down or when they just don’t bother to look at what’s out there gunning for us. Lancroft’s got plenty of good ideas, and unlike every other loudmouth politician or cop out there, he’s got the means to back it up. Since the newest crop of Half Breeds can eat the Mud Flu for lunch and we don’t even know if Full Bloods were affected at all, we could use some good ideas right about now. You’ve always been the one to take the right action no matter what anyone else thought. Your only problem is that you don’t always know what the right thing is.”
Paige felt a knot form in her stomach. It only grew when she looked into the rearview mirror at Steve. “I always thought the same thing about you, Rico,” she said earnestly.
“The Skinners as we know ’em are done,” Rico continued. “The Nymar saw to that, and they could never have done so much damage if we hadn’t all been too preoccupied or just too damn short-sighted to prevent it from happening.”
“So what’s the plan from here?”
“We have to solve this problem right now,” Steve said.
“You’re right,” Rico replied.
Paige agreed with him as well, which brought three problems to mind. For one thing, she’d never agreed so many times in a row with anybody. The second problem was that Rico wasn’t the kind of guy who took direct orders from anyone without at least attempting to buck against them or grumble about it. And yet, Steve was able to order him around with more ease than Ned ever could. Considering how highly Rico thought of Ned, that was saying a lot. The third problem was in the rearview mirror. For some reason, the harder she thought about those other problems, the hazier Steve’s reflection became.
“We’ve got options,” Rico said. “Lancroft’s followers have been keeping tabs on Full Blood movements for a while now. They even know about at least two more that have come to North America since the Mud Flu was wiped out.”
“You think Dr. Lancroft’s cult is capable of so much?” Steve asked.
“Don’t talk about them like they’re a joke,” Rico snarled as he twisted around to stare into the backseat. “They’re doing important work. Work that needs to get done before it’s too damn late. A lot of blood’s about to be spilled. The Full Bloods have always been happy to roam their territories, keep out of sight and do their thing without kicking up enough dust to be noticed. Liam changed that when he attacked Kansas City. He put a storm in motion, and the others like him are set to take advantage of it. We’ll need all the help we can get once the shit really starts to hit the fan.”
“After the siege of Kansas City, the Mud Flu, and everything else,” Paige said, “you still don’t think the shit’s hit the fan?”
“Honey,” he grunted, knowing all too well how a nickname like that would grate on her, “it ain’t even started to stink yet.”
Driving north on the expressway, Paige casually watched the side of the road for anything that might be useful. A stalled car or some debris could make a big enough boom when she hit it. Even a large pothole in the right spot could jostle her passenger enough to give her the opening she was looking for. Instead, all she saw was evenly spaced traffic and clear road. Damn Canadians and their fully functional infrastructure. “So why do you have the shotgun pointed at me again, Rico?” she asked.
“He saw the same thing you did,” Steve replied. “Tell him what you saw.”
“I found a list of Skinner contacts being used by the Nymar,” Paige said.
“I really wish you hadn’t seen that list, Bloodhound. I wanted to make sure you’d be on board with this before doing something drastic. Once you saw my name, though, I didn’t have much choice.”
She glanced over to him and said, “I didn’t see your name on the list, Rico. Just Jory, some of the Philly Skinners, and some others I didn’t recognize.”
Rico was stunned.
“You did see his name,” Steve told her. “Just like we found yours in an e-mail that explained how you betrayed all Skinners to the men flying that helicopter that brought you to Denver.”
Paige watched the road, still looking for anything that could be put to use.
Steve moved so he was looking at her like the proverbial devil sitting on Rico’s shoulder. “Tell us about those people who flew in that helicopter.”
“They helped me once,” she said. “They’re not exactly on my Christmas list.”
“Are they with the government?”
“No.”
“Cops?” Rico asked.
“Getting colder,” Paige sighed.
Steve placed a hand on Rico’s shoulder and said, “She’s trying to manipulate us.”
When Rico’s fingers tightened around the Mossberg, Paige thought she could hear the shotgun bend within his angry grasp. “Cut the bullshit and tell me everything, Bloodhound.”
The expressway was clear and straight enough for her to see she wasn’t going to get the break she’d been hoping for. There was always the chance of making a move that was sudden enough to get the drop on the big man in the passenger seat, but she’d worked with him for too long to expect his trigger finger to let her live through something like that. In an earlier time of her life, when she’d first been introduced to the darkness that crept in around society’s edges, Paige might have welcomed an opportunity to roll those dice and risk going out in a quick blaze of shotgun fire. Things might have become even darker, but she’d found something else to cling to. As much as it had torn her up to leave that something behind back in Denver, she wasn’t about to forget it anytime soon. In fact, it was a rare moment that she wasn’t thinking about him.
“You have to tell us about the group,” Steve said. “You can trust us.”
“It’s got some military ties, but it’s privately run,” she said. “They’ve also got friends in the press. And before you ask, yes. They do have some important jobs for me to do in exchange for the protection they can offer.”
“Protection?”
Paige shook her head solemnly. “I’m not saying another word.” When Rico placed the shotgun to his shoulder and pointed it at her cheek, he braced his arms and legs as if the kick of the Mossberg and the turbulence that would follow once the car was without its driver were both as inevitable as the rain.
Looking at her in the mirror, Steve said, “He’ll shoot you, Paige.”
She saw the image waver once more, so she looked away from it and to the fa
miliar face beside her. “I know you would, but never based on so little. We’ve been through worse, including when you finally agreed to help Gerald train me.”
When Rico let out a breath, a fond smile accompanied it. “Gerald knew his way around the sticks, but we could always take him in a fistfight. Remember the look on his face when you knocked him on his ass that time?”
“Yes.”
The expressway cleared out along a stretch that curved sharply to the left. It glistened with a thick layer of water tainted by a mix of oil and any number of fluids dripping from the hundreds of cars using the road on a daily basis.
“So you must be one of these guys that Rico’s talking about, right, Steve?” she asked while glancing back and forth between the mirror and the road. “I figure that has to be the case since you seem to be so familiar with Lancroft.”
“I never said that.”
“No, but you called him Doctor Lancroft. The only one I’ve ever heard call him that was Henry. Henry’s dead, and if you’re not one of Lancroft’s followers, maybe you were around him for a long time for some other reason?”
“I . . . am one of his followers,” Steve admitted.
Although Paige believed that implicitly, she held onto her underlying train of thought. “And what about you, Rico? You must have known this guy for years to let him boss you around that way.”
“I—”
“He has,” Steve interrupted.
Rico nodded. “Yeah, I have.”
“Funny how you never mentioned him.” Gripping the steering wheel, Paige added, “It’s also funny how both of us go along with whatever this asshole says as long as he tells us to. He doesn’t ask. He doesn’t request. He orders us, Rico. Last time I checked, neither one of us takes orders too well.” As she said that, she looked into the rearview mirror. She wouldn’t have taken her eyes off it even if that meant slamming into the back end of a bus. That way, she was sure to see any more flickers in Steve’s reflection. Fortunately, it didn’t take long before she saw that very thing.
The Breaking Page 4