“Did Ritter mention me going?” Stella asked. “I’m waiting for word from Marco on the DNA results in Virginia.”
“No.” I didn’t feel like eating, but I grabbed a couple slices of bacon.
Stella arched a brow. “You look like you didn’t get much sleep.”
I was about to comment on my relationship issues with Ritter and Keene, but given what Stella had been through with Bronson, it would only sound like whining. “I slept well enough, though I might have overdone things a bit during workout.”
She laughed. “That’s nothing new.”
Jace had gulped down three helpings of his favorite omelet by the time Ritter and Ava came into the dining room, Ritter with a large black duffel bag in each hand. “If you see that we need more manpower once you get there,” Ava was saying, “I can ask Tenika for backup.”
Ritter nodded, but his face showed no concern. For all their nastiness and violence, Hunters were mortal and that meant we knew their weaknesses. Unfortunately, we couldn’t really afford another unexplained bloodbath, and we certainly wouldn’t kill them unless it meant saving Brody Emerson’s life. The mortal officials in this area were already on high alert. That didn’t stop Ritter from tossing Jace a smaller bag that I knew carried drug evidence we hoped not to have to plant.
Cort met us in the garage as we were loading Ritter’s black Land Cruiser, a mini laptop in his hands and a wireless headset that I knew was linked through his phone to Stella’s neural receiver. We threw the rest of the gear into the back and piled in. I rode shotgun next to Ritter in the front, leaving Cort and Keene in the second row of seats and Jace and Oliver in the third. Jace didn’t look happy, but for once Oliver wore an almost pleasant expression.
Cort cleared his throat and leaned close to the front seat. “Erin, I thought you’d like to know what I found out about the readings at the compound. Stella’s running them through a series of analyses now, but from what I’ve seen so far, I believe they’ve created a machine that acts very much like a mental shield, only instead of using the human mind, it’s powered by electricity. They must have wires circling the entire building. Ingenious, actually. I tried to rig something similar myself back in the day, but electricity was scarce when we first invented it. And later there were so few sensing Unbounded that it hardly seemed necessary. The downside for us is that they can crank up the output so that even you can’t penetrate it. But at least until we invent another type of power supply, the device isn’t practical for them to carry around. Meaning they can’t use it to protect an individual.”
I turned to look at him. “So, cut the electricity and the shield vanishes?”
“Yes. It would also become weak during any sort of fluctuation. I suspect that was why you could occasionally sense the prisoners from outside.”
“It didn’t seem to affect me when I was connected to Oliver as we passed through it. But I was disconnected from everyone outside.”
“That’s right. It’s a barrier and as you pass through, it’d cut you off from those outside, or inside if you were heading through the other way, but if you’re already connected and you go inside together, you should maintain status quo. In fact, as you pass through the ten or twenty feet of the shield, you might not be able to disconnect from someone near you. Certainly, you wouldn’t be able to put up a new mental barrier of your own. The good news is that with Stella’s analyses, I should be able to replicate the shield. It’ll make a fine addition to our safe house in San Diego, one that’s important given that Roberts guy you ran into at Emerson’s. There could be more like him.”
“What about other gifts? Would it block those?” I meant Mari specifically, but I didn’t have to spell it out for him.
“It didn’t affect Oliver, and that is closer to what you do than Mari’s ability.”
“But wouldn’t that be part of the status quo you were talking about?” This from Ritter, who had been following our conversation. “His illusion was already in place as they went inside.”
Cort paused to think. “I really can’t say, but you’re probably right. As for Mari, she might simply fold space and go past it, or it also might not come up on her mental screen as a place that even exists. We’ll have to experiment.”
“We need to get a hold of that equipment,” Ritter said.
“That would make recreating it significantly easier.” Cort glanced down at his computer and back at me. “But of course our first priority is getting our people out.”
“And discovering what’s going on with that Patrick Mann lookalike.” I frowned before adding, “I wonder if the one I met is a technopath like the man they have prisoner.” A niggling thought pushed at me, but I still couldn’t place it. I needed to go back over the whole encounter with Patrick Mann.
I hadn’t come to any new conclusions by the time we arrived at our destination an hour later, Ritter having shaved off fifteen minutes from the GPS estimate. Jace had his head back and was snoring noisily, while Oliver stared out the window. Keene was also napping, but Cort was still wide awake and working on his computer.
We focused on the narrow, one-story building nestled quietly among a row of small businesses, each separated by a few parking spaces or short stretches of grass. The Hunter insignia of a man with a rifle splashed across a neon sign on the roof of the building, and below this was another sign with the words: Freedom Means Protecting Yourself. Fewer than a dozen cars lined the wide street in front. In all, it didn’t look impressive. With any luck we could break in, get Brody Emerson, and be home in time to learn where Patrick Mann was having lunch.
“Uh-oh.” Keene pointed at the building next door where a group of people were arriving at what was obviously a church, if you judged by the huge cross on the steeple. So far there were only a few men and women, but it was Sunday and more would likely be coming as the morning progressed.
Ritter edged the Land Cruiser down the block just past the Hunters’ meeting house. He looked at me. “How many are inside?”
I was already trying to get a feel, but the life forces were so close that some were hard to separate. “The place is deeper than it looks, or they’ve spilled out onto a backyard or something, but there’s at least twenty.” A van drove up in front of the house and three more emerged. “Twenty-three,” I amended.
“Those guys don’t look old enough to be in the Hunter Circle,” Keene said. “That means they’ve probably sent out an alert to all the Hunters in nearby towns. Can you find Brody?”
I nodded. “Someone is lying down with a group around him. Must be Brody.” I pushed harder. “Yeah, it’s him. He’s conscious—and scared.”
“If you can access his ability,” Jace said, apparently having awakened with our conversation, “you could gather the energy from nearby and make an explosion. I bet if you piggyback your ability, you could reach even farther to pull in more energy than he can.”
The idea was interesting. “I usually have to see it done first to channel an ability. Remember, he only learned who he was yesterday.”
Jace smirked. “You mean after you killed him. Bet he remembers that.”
I glanced out the window. “What about the church?” More people were arriving now, and even this early a little boy was playing on the strip of grass between the two buildings. Sabbath music trickled into the air.
Ritter followed my gaze. “I don’t like the idea of experimenting here, but better a small explosion with enough power to cover our escape than a bloodbath where innocents are caught in the cross fire. Every single Hunter in there has at least one gun.”
“Don’t they know they’re in New York?” Jace said. “I thought owning a gun was practically a felony here.”
No one laughed. Restrictive gun laws were a concern to us because it left citizens even more at risk of being trampled by the Emporium once they took control. An unarmed nation is a nation at the mercy of its own government and lunatics.
“I need to get closer to see if using his ability is possible,�
� I said. “There’re too many thoughts in there for me to try anything from here. Anyway, the overall feeling is ugly. I think they plan to do more than just kill him.” I swallowed hard.
“So let’s go in and join them,” Keene said.
I blinked at him in surprise. “What?”
“I’m a Hunter in good standing, remember? You, Jace, and Oliver are the only ones here not in their database, which they study as thoroughly as any Bible. I say we go in and assess the situation. If Cort and Ritter get close enough to the building, you should be able to communicate with them while we’re inside.”
We all looked at Ritter, whose frown showed concentration. “No,” he decided. “Any little thing will set off that mob. The four of you against all of them is too dangerous.”
“What if we all go in?” Cort closed his laptop and put it under the seat. “Oliver can mask you and me so they’ll let us in, and together all of us should be enough to get Brody out.”
I should have been offended that the addition of only two would make such a big difference, but I’d seen both of them fight. Cort wasn’t as good as Ritter, but he was still a far cry better than I was without channeling the combat ability, and he made Oliver look like a child. The three of us with Jace were a fair fight against twenty-three Hunters—as long as we could keep from getting shot. If Keene were at full capacity, I’d say the fight would be grossly unfair for the Hunters.
Again Ritter considered the odds and apparently found them acceptable. “Okay, we go in. Close enough for Erin to easily channel Oliver’s ability, but in two separate groups so we don’t appear to be together. Then when I give the signal, Oliver will project his illusion of the SWAT team. As the Hunters scatter, Erin and Keene, you get Brody out while we provide cover.”
“Let’s just hope they don’t start shooting when they see the SWAT team,” Jace mumbled.
Keene frowned. “Unless you know the handshakes, the Hunters won’t let you in.”
“I know them,” Cort said. “At least the ones that were current three months ago. We can run through them again to make sure.”
“I may have to drop your cover to make the police appear.” Oliver’s face was slightly flushed.
“I could take over,” I put in. “Or help you call up another SWAT team.”
Ritter shook his head. “I want you to concentrate on masking Jace at least until we get into the crowd. They may have a camera in there recording who arrives, and I don’t want him identified later.”
My stomach lurched. I understood what Ritter was saying. Despite his show of maturity at the compound last night, neither of us was confident that Jace would keep a low profile today.
“I also want you ready to mask Brody if needed,” Ritter continued. “Walking him out might be our best plan.”
“Wait, what about me?” Oliver asked. “I don’t want to be in their files, and if I’m covering Ritter and Cort, I can’t mask myself.”
“You’ll be wearing a disguise,” Cort assured him. “You won’t be in their faces like Jace will, and they won’t be on the lookout for you like they are for us, so it’ll be more than enough. Most of them aren’t very bright.”
“We’d better hurry,” I said. “Brody’s more afraid now. I—something feels odd in him.”
Keene grimaced. “They’re probably telling him exactly what they’re going to do to him. They like to scare their victims first.”
Ritter put the Land Cruiser in gear, driving to a mom-and-pop store two doors down and pulling around behind. The store was closed on Sunday in this small town, but our vehicle didn’t look out of place. From there we could see that the Hunter meeting house did extend farther back than it appeared from the front. All the windows there were shuttered.
“I wish Mari were here to keep the engine running,” I said, as Jace reached behind him for the bag carrying the bulletproof vests.
Ritter arched a brow and tossed me a handful of magazines and a silencer for my nine mil. “She can find you. Call her.”
I shook my head. “I’d rather not experiment with her coming this far.”
“She did it before in the jungle.” Jace shrugged on his vest and replaced his coat.
He was right, but there were a lot more variables in shifting across several cities than through a jungle, weren’t there?
“Text her.” This from Cort.
I studied him a moment, remembering Oliver’s passionate rendition of him. Did he look at Mari as a woman or an experiment? Or a friend?
I opened the door and climbed from the Land Cruiser, going around the other side so that I was between the SUV and an outcropping of the store. Ritter and Cort kept watch, their guns ready. Making sure there was plenty of space between me and the Land Cruiser, I pulled out my phone and texted Mari. Can you come here? We need a getaway driver. It’s about 70 miles.
I counted heartbeats as I waited for a return text, but a soft pop and the slight displacement of air told me she hadn’t bothered.
“Hi guys.” She flipped her long black hair over her shoulder with one hand. “Thank you for getting me out of there. Nothing is going on at the compound, except me freezing to death.”
“Well, the Land Cruiser is warm for now.” Ritter motioned her inside. “But leave the engine off until you see us coming. We don’t want anyone to get suspicious.”
“You can turn it on briefly if you need to,” Cort added, buttoning his coat so his vest didn’t show. “But we shouldn’t be that long.” I followed his example with my own coat. Enough buttons to hide the vest from casual observation, but not so many that it would prevent me from reaching backup weapons. I’d already put the nine mil in my pocket.
“Are we taking the earbuds?” Jace climbed from the Land Cruiser.
“The earbuds and radios won’t be any use in that crowd,” Ritter said. “Too obvious. Just watch me for the signal. Erin will communicate anything that might change.”
Seconds later Keene, Jace, and I emerged in front of the store and strode down the sidewalk. The others would follow after we got to the wide porch in front of the meeting house. No more cars had arrived outside, for which I felt grateful. I wore a dark wig from the supplies, and Jace sported nerdy glasses and had slicked his hair back under a cowboy hat. I went further with Oliver’s ability, changing his skin to a ruddy color marked by acne scars. His clothes were straight off a farm and he smelled of chicken poop.
“Chickens?” he whispered. “Did you have to?”
“It’ll keep people away,” I said. “The illusions aren’t tangible.”
“I’m going to get you back, you know that.”
“Oh, is the smell making you sick?” I mocked. “Let me know if you’re going to throw up so I can jump out of the way.”
“Erin,” he groaned.
I shrugged. This wasn’t a party we were going to, and he was my responsibility every bit as much as I was his.
Keene chuckled. “Quiet now. It’s game time.”
BEHIND US, I FELT RITTER and the others moving down the walk. Oliver’s sense of self-preservation had somehow given him a way to extend his illusions to himself as well, because I didn’t recognize any of them by sight. Keene reached for the door.
A big blond man with muttonchop sideburns and hat hair stood guard just inside the squat building, a rifle over his shoulder and a pistol at his hip. His hand rested on the pistol as he greeted us, “Welcome, fellow Hunters. Why do you come to this place?”
“To receive the brotherhood and support the Hunter Circle.” Keene reached out a hand and they shook. This time I paid close attention, watching as Keene returned several taps with his fingers.
“Do you wish to join the Hunt and protect the mortal world?” The reverent way the man spoke, I knew Hunt was more than symbolic.
“Yes. That is why I’ve come. To join with my brothers to the end of the Hunt.” More handshakes, this time too fast for me to follow.
“To the end of the Hunt,” the big man finished, his hand dropping
to his side. “You and your guest may pass.”
“It’s a real one tonight,” he added as we came inside. “First we’ll cut him and watch him heal, proving his link with the devil. Then we’ll do our duty.” Blood lust rolled off him, and for a moment I felt as if I’d gone back in time when entire towns gathered to kill helpless victims accused of witchcraft. Or more recently when men in white robes and pointed hats planted burning crosses in front of humble dwellings. Ignorance and racism in all its ugliness.
I’d stopped moving and Keene’s hand shot out to grab me. “Come on, dear. We don’t want to miss this.”
“Oh, you won’t,” the big guy said. “I’m going to lock the door in a few minutes. That will be the signal to begin. I work for the Hunter Circle. Two of them are here today.”
“What about Emerson?” Keene asked.
The man frowned. “I don’t know. I think they’re hoping he comes to his senses after the evil influence in his house is gone, but he may be cut off and shunned.”
Shunned? Really? In this day and age?
Jace grimaced, which made him look quite gruesome with his bad skin. I could feel he was aching to slam his fist into the man’s face. “Let’s go,” I told him as Keene tugged on me harder.
We walked past a desk holding two monitors and down a constricted hallway, lingering to make sure the others got through the guard safely. By the time they caught up to us, we had made our way to a large room in the back. Nearly fifty folding chairs crammed into the space, a makeshift stage and pulpit jutting up insignificantly at the far end. In front of the stage sat a table covered with a white plastic tablecloth, and on top of this lay a frightened Brody Emerson. His arms were tied with ropes to iron rings set into the tiled floor on either side of the table. His feet were spread wide, held in place at the edge of the table by more ropes and rings. The first two rows of chairs had been shoved back into the others to allow people to gather around the table. Besides a middle-aged woman who stood near the edge of the crowd, all the others present were male.
The Escape Page 19