THE EQUINOX STONE (Knights of Manus Sancti Book 2)

by Bryn Donovan

  Val’s heart pounded so hard she wondered if it were audible. “Hi, Mrs. Hammons,” she said.

  “Hi.” She squinted at her. “You’re the new girl, right? Melody?”

  Val nodded. “I think I forgot my Thermos.”

  No one was around. The students hadn’t arrived yet for the next lunch period. Val squeezed the timeline and darted into Lori’s psyche.

  A corporate office, with a woman in every cubicle. In one, a woman typed briskly at her computer, a slight smile on her face. Next to her, a dead woman dangled, hanging in a noose from the fluorescent light fixture above, her eyes popped wide open, her tongue swollen and protruding out of her mouth. A woman in another cubicle sat staring at her computer, but she couldn’t type because her hands had been chopped off.

  Val could scarcely breathe. She focused on Lori, avoiding the gruesome scene around them.

  “What happened?” Lori demanded, and then her eyes narrowed. “You! You’re one of them!” She knew she was being Read. Fine.

  Val asked, “Why did virgin girls get pregnant?”

  “Our Tribunal men need to procreate.”

  “Why?”

  “So our numbers will grow and we can wipe out you filthy Devil worshippers.” If Lori were terrified at the appearance of her own psyche, filled with horrors beyond nightmare, she showed no signs of it.

  “Why can’t they just get married?” Val didn’t know if the tremor in her voice was from fear or hatred.

  “The Tribunal men are pure. They don’t defile themselves with marriage.”

  Val’s mind swirled in confusion. “Then how do the girls get pregnant?”

  “Insemination. It’s an honor for them.”

  The tremor was hate now, definitely. She held it back. There was no point screaming at the woman. She had no time, and Lori wouldn’t remember it, anyway. “Why don’t they know it’s happening?”

  “They’re drugged. We don’t hurt them. Women are meant to be mothers.”

  Val couldn’t stay in longer. She obliterated the memory and got out. When she opened her eyes, Lori was blinking too.

  “Well, go on in and get it, but hurry up,” Lori said. “You’re late.”

  “Okay,” Val said. “I like your wedding ring.” She was still shaking from what she’d seen. Hopefully, Lori wouldn’t notice.

  “Oh.” Lori raised her eyebrows and looked at the ring as though she hadn’t seen it in years. “Why, thank you.”

  “My parents were going to give me a promise ring. To wear until I got married. But…” She was close to tears from what she’d seen and heard. Hopefully, it helped her performance. “You know.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  But she wasn’t. Val could feel her predatory interest rising. She’d taken the bait.

  “I’m talking too much,” Val said. “I miss them.”

  “I’m sure you do.” Lori’s voice dripped with artificial sympathy. “Are you close to your godfather? Do you talk to him a lot?”

  “Not really.”

  “I can tell you’re a good person.” Students were streaming into the cafeteria and Michael was still standing in the hallway nearby, absorbed in his phone. She wouldn’t dare to Read Val under the circumstances, would she? Did she need to, when Val had already offered up the information that she was a virgin?

  The woman lowered her voice and drew nearer to Val. “We have a secret honor society for girls like you. We can get you into any college you want, get you a job in any field you want. Would you like to learn more about it?”

  Val nodded.

  “Don’t tell anyone about it. Not even your godfather. If other parents find out, we won’t be able to continue.”

  It was so creepy. So blatant. And she could totally see the girls at this school falling for it. “I won’t tell anyone.”

  “Meet me and the other elder at the church on Thursday night for an interview. Eight p.m. Come alone.” Then she patted Val on the shoulder. “Now get back to class.”

  *

  Instead of the usual call, Nic was coming over that night in person. When a knock came at the door, Val was in the living room, trying to concentrate on reading a book, and Jacinto was in the kitchen, using the mixer to mix the dough for a new olive bread recipe he was trying out.

  “That’s probably Nic,” Val said, but when Jacinto opened the door, Michael stood there.

  “You’re early,” Jacinto said.

  “Yeah. How’s it going?” he asked Jacinto with what sounded like an attempt at casualness as he came inside. He wore a pair of olive shorts with a gray T-shirt and sneakers. She’d never seen him in shorts before, but it wasn’t surprising, given the heat. The careless outfit shouldn’t have looked as good as it did.

  His emotions were a dense tangle, but anger was only one of them, and there was both love and hope. Hope for what, though? An open relationship? Friendship? She hoped for that too, if nothing else. When Michael had been presumed dead, she’d cried for days, not wanting to face a world without his friendship. She prayed she wouldn’t have to do so now.

  They all sat down, Michael taking the farthest seat from Val on the sofa. What did his mess of feelings even mean? Maybe, after what she’d done, she had no right to even try to figure them out.

  “So, a secret honor society,” he said.

  Talking about the mission’s newest developments was not only necessary, but also a welcome distraction from the tension between her and Michael. “They must’ve promised those other girls help with college, help with jobs. Practically every girl at the school wants that. They’re all stressed out of their minds about college.” Britt and Mia weren’t the only ones she’d heard talking about it. “But I still don’t understand how they get girls to keep secrets from their parents.”

  “Not all daughters are as close to their parents as you are,” Michael said.

  Jacinto nodded. “Some of them probably love having secrets.”

  “And they love being told they’re special,” Val said. Who didn’t? But she’d been at the school long enough to know that sonámbula girls, especially, craved approval. Sitting in the same room as Michael, she could’ve used more of that herself, though she doubted she deserved it.

  As they kept talking, he didn’t avoid her gaze completely, but he didn’t meet it often, either. Val was relieved when a quiet knock came at the door.

  Jacinto padded over in bare feet to look at the little security camera and then answer it. Nic set down the duffel bag in his hand and inclined his head to him, saying something in Chinese, and Jacinto replied and embraced him. After Nic had made coffee and poured himself a mug, they sat down to discuss the plan.

  “You’ve both got three objectives,” Nic said. “Get any intel you can, kill the Tribunal, and get the stone.”

  Val swallowed and nodded.

  “Easy,” Michael said.

  “Val’s supposed to meet them secretly at eight. Aquario will be acting as the Uber driver who drops her off. Even though they’ve told her it’s just an initiation, we have to be ready for the worst. Michael, you’ll already be hiding in the chapel. Hopefully, Val gets the chance to Read them.”

  “And then I come out and shoot them,” Michael said.

  “Not so fast. Val will ask them, ‘Are you both a part of this group?’ Which means that she’s Read them, they’re both Tribunal, and they’re both guilty of capital crimes. If she addresses one of them and says, ‘So, you’re not a part of this group?’ that means that guy’s not Tribunal, and you leave him alive.” He looked to Val. “Does that make sense?” She nodded. “Then you can come out, tell Val to get down—and you go flat on the ground and don’t get up again until Michael tells you it’s okay,” he added to Val. He turned back to Michael again. “And then you shoot them.”

  Val’s stomach felt queasy. If she had it to do over, would she have volunteered for this?

  No. She wouldn’t. But there was no backing out now.

  “You’re going to be all r
ight,” Nic told her. “He’s going to be right there. You couldn’t have better protection than that.”

  Michael gave a grim smile. “Thanks, but we don’t know what we’re walking into. What if more men are there? Will Aquario stay close?”

  Nic nodded. “He and three other Knights will be in position, one to two blocks out—north, south, east, and west. We’ve got to be stealthy, because they might have backup around the church too, and this is our best chance to get a lot of intel. Which we don’t get if it immediately turns into a battle. If it’s more men, you text all of us, and one or more of them will go in.”

  “Who else is coming?”

  “You know Arsen Zakarian or Rajiv Rani?”

  Michael shook his head. “I knew a Rahul Rani in Manila.” Val didn’t know the men, either.

  “Yeah, this is his brother. Besides Aquario, it’ll be Raj, Arsen, and Portia.”

  Portia Granville was one of the Knights Capitán had brought in from El Dédalo. Val had debriefed her a couple dozen times, and the woman grated on her nerves—she was quick to complain and to criticize others, and her psyche was a grand old house in what appeared to be Antarctica. But she was a calm and competent fighter, obeying orders to the letter.

  Michael nodded. “When do I go in? And where am I hiding?”

  Nic held up a finger and dug into the duffel bag. “Here’s the blueprint of the chapel.” He put it on the table between them. “We don’t know if they’re going to come in through the front doors or the side door here. But you’ll come in this side door. It should be an easy lock to pick.”

  “What if it’s not?” Michael asked. “I can’t stand around too long, and they’re going to notice if I’ve kicked the door in.”

  “You’re going to love this.” Nic reached into the bag again and handed Michael a white hexagonal device about the size of one of Val’s teacup saucers and about the thickness of his phone. “It’s a breaking-and-entering tool. They think it’s ready to try out. They’re calling it a hex. For obvious reasons.”

  “I saw a Diviner working on this.” Michael inspected it. “How does this help us?”

  “First of all, there’s a plasma blade.”

  Michael didn’t even perk up at that, which surprised her. Almost nothing made him happier than a new gadget. Even phone upgrades pleased him. When he’d gone to college, he’d started out with a major in electrical engineering, but the program had been too difficult. He’d switched to psychology, which had easier homework. Still, he knew more than Val did about the Diviners’ inventions. “Do I need gloves?” he asked Nic.

  “They solved the heat problem. You can use it with your bare hands. They’ll feel hot, but they won’t get blistered.” Nic pointed to one of the sides of the hex. Each side had a button near it printed with a symbol. “This vertical line means the plasma blade. It comes out here—” He touched the middle of that side of the hex. Then his finger traveled to the button near it. “This is already keyed to your right thumb. Press here for the blade. It’ll cut the lock in one second. But make sure nobody’s on the other side. It extends about seven feet.”

  “What the hell?”

  Nic shrugged. “They’ll fix it. It’s a prototype. Once you’re in, you’re going to use this side to create a lock again.” He pointed to the next button, emblazoned a lock symbol, appropriately enough.

  Michael’s gaze shot up to Nic. “How does it do that?”

  “Short-range spray of a super epoxy. Don’t get it on your skin. A couple of drops diffuse and form a fine mesh.”

  Michael’s eyes widened. “I’m Spider-Man.”

  “Ha. It’s super strong—it’ll make a door feel locked. If they try to come in that way, they’ll figure they’ve got the wrong key or it’s jammed.”

  “Or they’ll be suspicious,” Michael said.

  Nic nodded. “That’s why you want to try picking the lock first. But Val’s meeting Lori at the front doors, so they’ll probably go in that way. Practice with the plasma blade. Don’t practice with the epoxy. There’s only three bursts in there.”

  “What do the other four sides do?” Val asked.

  Nic pointed at the next button. “Frequency emitter. It messes up any alarm systems and wireless cameras in the area. It won’t affect your phone. Before you go in, put it up to the edge of the door. It needs less than a millimeter of space to get through.” He pointed to the side with the X symbol. “Safecracking tool. It’s an upgrade of KGB tech. You point it at the lock of a safe, and it uses X-ray sensitive film to figure out the combination. It’ll project the combination in lights right above the lock.”

  “Please let there be a safe,” Michael said.

  Val was less enthralled. “Aren’t X-rays dangerous to be around?”

  “It’s not like you’re going to use it every day,” Nic said.

  Michael asked, “What about the other two buttons?”

  “This one kills the lights in a building. This one does 3D mapping of an interior. Hit it once, and it saves the map and sends it to you and to El Dédalo.” Nic shrugged. “You won’t need it for this job, but it’s cool.”

  “Where’s the best place for me to wait?”

  “Up here in the choir loft.” Nic went back to the blueprint and pointed. “We’re assuming from our research that Lori has no weapon and no fighting skills. The other guy might be Kevin Fluekiger or the one they call Malleus.” Val suppressed a shiver. “Or it could be a stranger. He may be armed, so you’re both going to wear vests under your clothes. If it’s one guy, like we’re expecting, dispatch him, and Lori too.”

  As far as Val knew, Michael never killed a woman before. But this woman was a trafficker of children, and Val had told them about her evil soulscape. Michael wouldn’t hesitate.

  “If it’s more people, text for backup,” Nic told Michael. “And if you do get caught, remember, you have a plausible reason for being there.”

  “What’s that?”

  Nic smiled. “You’re a little drunk, and you broke into the church to pray and unburden your soul.”

  “I guess,” Michael muttered.

  “After you get rid of them, find the stone. The vestibule is under the floor. Right here.” He pointed on the map. “You need to find that passage.”

  “I can always find that passage,” Michael joked. She’d seen him do this before: make juvenile jokes when things got too serious. Because of the rift between them, the casual sex joke stung.

  “Nice single entendre,” Nic said. “Then you and Val get to our other safe house. I already texted you the address.” He looked from Michael to Val. “Any other questions?”

  Val felt like she had a hundred of them, but none of them came to mind. She shook her head.

  “Obedezco,” Michael said.

  After Nic left, Jacinto sighed. “I guess now is when I say I’m going to bed so you two can talk. But I’m not tired.”

  “You wanted to watch that robot movie,” Val suggested.

  “Okay, fair enough. I’ll leave you alone.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Val’s own feelings were as jumbled as Michael’s, and she had no idea how the conversation would play out. But if nothing else, she owed him an apology. “Let’s sit outside.” As she shut the French doors behind them, she murmured, “It’s still hot out here.” The air was humid and thick. The potted ylang ylang trees had started to bloom, and their fragrance mingled with the scent of the lemon eucalyptus spray that kept the insects away.

  Michael stepped out of his sneakers, took off his socks, and sat down on the edge of the pool, putting his feet and calves in the water. It looked cool and inviting. Val stepped out of her slippers, hiked her silk robe up above her knees, and sat next to him.

  “Feels good.” It took her a couple of seconds to get up the courage to ask, “Did you get my text?”

  “Yeah, I—”

  “I’m still sorry.”

  “I still forgive you.”

  After a moment of confusion
, she said, “You never said you forgave me.”

  “Don’t you know, anyway?”

  “Not exactly.”

  He frowned, looking out over the surface of the water. “You can ask to go in my psyche. I mean, Jonathan, Octavio…they’ve done it to their girlfriends before.” His bitter wistfulness squeezed her heart. “But not like that. Not because you think I’m a liar.”

  “I don’t think you’ve ever lied to me in your life. I just wanted some extra reassurance.”

  “I get that.” His shoulders relaxed as he exhaled. “I’m sorry it happened. If I were an empath, it might’ve made me crazy too.”

  She appreciated that, but there was still a deep well of sadness within her. “I thought things would be different. After it happened with Angel.”

  He straightened and turned to her. “After what?”

  “You know. When you saw Angel Cheng and you were interested in her for a minute. And I got upset.”

  His mouth sagged open. “You were upset then?”

  “How could you not know?”

  “Because I’m not an empath!” He raised his gaze skyward for a moment, taking a breath. Then he laughed a little, shaking his head. “Look, you can feel every little thing I’m feeling. Even if it’s a blip.”

  “Sometimes it is a blip,” Val had to say. “Like with you and Aquario. I didn’t even care about that.”

  “What? I never…” He trailed off. “Wow, yeah. You can feel all my feelings. Meanwhile, I don’t pick up on much of that. I’m average at best. If something’s bothering you, you have to tell me. This is never going to work if you keep your mouth shut and feel sad and only bring it up weeks later. Tell me right then. All right?”

  “Okay.” She appreciated him talking like this, but her heart still felt battered. “But I don’t think I can handle it happening a lot.” She had to be honest about what she needed, even if she needed a lot more than most people he could’ve dated—and even if it was more than he could give her. “It hurts too much.”

  “I told you I couldn’t help it—”

  “I know.”

  “Let me finish.” He held up a hand. “I told you I couldn’t help it, but maybe I was wrong. If I’m aware of it, maybe I can at least…I don’t know, rein it in.”