The words slipped out before Jorge could stop them. This wasn’t the time or place to get sentimental, but it was true—if he killed Watkins, then he’d probably be locked up and sent to some AMT research facility. Just because the Feiru High Council hadn’t passed a law requiring all Feiru with latent abilities to be turned over to the AMT system didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen.
Hell, he had no idea if surviving tonight would result in anything with Sabrina, but dammit, he wanted to try.
Sabrina was staring at him with her mouth slightly open, but before either of them could say another word, there was a series of light flashes from the east. He switched into work mode. “Okay, that’s the signal. Let’s go.”
Sabrina managed to close her mouth and nod.
The signal meant they had five minutes to climb down the one story building to the ground and get into position, and all without making a sound. At the edge of the roof, he eased over the side until his feet touched on the discarded sofa. Once he was down and out of the way, Sabrina did the same. They circled around the building and kept to the shadows to reach their target.
Ninety seconds to go. Most of the DEFEND soldiers would guard the back door, Sabrina the front, and Jorge would cover the door of the building adjacent to the shop where Watkins and the others assembling the bomb for the school would be. If what Sabrina had told him about Watkins was true, the man usually kept an empty dummy house or shop next door to his workshops or safe houses. He had a feeling Watkins would use the dummy house to escape.
However, Jorge wasn’t an idiot and wouldn’t go into this without sufficient backup. Luciana had mentioned other Fed League soldiers and maybe even a few latent abilities in there with Watkins. Just in case, a few DEFEND soldiers were keeping lookout from nearby rooftops, armed with rifles that shot tranquilizer darts.
Everyone was in position by the time a loud boom sounded from the east. Jorge hugged the shadows of the nearby wall, his gun out and ready. He might not be in his shadow form, but his black clothes hid him well enough.
The plan was for Santos to throw a homemade smoke bomb into the house and force the people inside to flee. If the human police somehow caught word of the smoke bombing, they would pin the homemade device on some of the local teenagers. The last thing they needed was the human police sniffing around and looking for DEFEND or the Fed League.
He heard some glass break and a few seconds later there were cries and coughs from near the back door of the original building, but he held his position. Anyone who’d done mercenary work as long as Watkins had would know that dividing his resources would also divide an enemy’s. Sometimes the maneuver was a death sentence, other times the sole means of escape. Since Watkins only cared about himself, he’d divide his resources and not give a shit who else died.
A few more seconds passed, but while the front and back of the other house grew noisier with scuffling and the muffled sound of an occasional tranquilizer gun going off, nothing happened on his end.
Part of him itched to go help the others, but he trusted Sabrina and—oddly—Santos. DEFEND had yet to fuck him over, and if this went according to plan, he might even consider helping them out again if they asked him.
A window opened on his side of the building and a small amount of smoke started to trail outside. An arm and head poked out to look around, but it was just one of the Fed League lackeys. However, the lackey in question was one of Watkins’s best bodyguards who just happened to be a dead shot.
The presence of the bodyguard meant Jorge was going to have to shift and use his shadow-transport trick to anonymously deliver Watkins to the Feiru enforcement agents in the area.
Jorge tucked his gun into his waistband and imagined his cells breaking down until the familiar pain shot through his body and he became a dense shadow-mist. He kept to the shadows as the lackey slipped out of the window and motioned one of his guns—he had two—to signal the all clear. As Watkins started to climb out the window, Jorge moved closer.
He’d never brushed up against someone to try to knock them unconscious before since all of his past assignments had been to get in and out as quickly as possible. This time, however, he was going to try.
The instant Watkins touched his feet on the ground, Jorge moved as fast as he could toward the lackey, brushed over him, and was relieved that the man fell down to the ground in unconsciousness. Watkins started to run, but in this form, Jorge was faster. He caught up with him and surrounded him from behind. Watkins also fell to the ground unconscious. As much as he didn’t want to bring the bastard into his shadow cloud, Jorge knew he had to do it, so he started to imagine the bastard’s cells breaking down. But just before he managed to finish the process, a sharp pain shot through him and he lost his concentration. One second he was a shadow cloud, and the next he was in his human form again.
What the fuck? Jorge glanced down his body and saw a knife sticking out of his thigh.
No one should’ve been able to hit him in his shadow form, but he didn’t have time to figure out how it happened because something glowing light blue was charging straight at him.
The blue blur meant that Watkins had borrowed a Feiru with a latent ability called a Blue Demon from the Collector. He needed to stop the woman from reaching him, or it was game over since one of the Blue Demons’ abilities included poison-filled claws.
He reached for his gun and aimed, but before he could pull the trigger, his hand dematerialized and rematerialized. The flash from skin to shadow and back again sent enough pain through his body to cause him to scream. The gun clattered to the ground, and the woman drew closer. But just before she reached him, Jorge heard a rifle and the woman went down.
In the back of his brain, he knew it was a tranquilizer dart, but before he could do anything, his arm flashed again, and he gritted his teeth against the pain. Something was wrong with him. Really wrong.
People started to come from all sides, but Jorge concentrated on his arm. If he couldn’t get the flashing to stop, he was going to burn out and die.
He heard a female’s voice and he looked up to see Sabrina. The split-second distraction cost him, because in that instant, he couldn’t prepare against his body turning to shadow and back, and the pain was so overwhelming that he screamed before the world went black.
Sabrina had just finished securing the last of the unconscious Fed League people on her side of the building when one of the DEFEND soldiers came rushing up to her and said, “Something has happened to Salazar.”
The person assisting her nodded for her to go and Sabrina stood up and ran to the far side. Her heart was already beating fast from the takedown, but her heart rate kicked up a notch as she rounded the corner. She refused to think Jorge could be dying, but as she saw his arm and a section of his torso flash into shadow and back to solid flesh, her stomach dropped. Something was wrong.
She kneeled by his side and gave him a quick once-over. While the knife in his leg would hurt like hell, it wasn’t life threatening. She wanted to touch him and comfort him, but the switching between shadow and flesh stopped her. Until she knew exactly what was wrong with him, she couldn’t risk making the situation worse.
“Jorge? What happened?” He looked at her and then he screamed in agony before his eyes closed and he went slack. Isabel Santos kneeled down across from her. Sabrina looked to the woman and said, “You know more about latent abilities than I do. What’s wrong with him? If he keeps doing this, he’ll burn out and he’ll die.”
Santos’s face went grim. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Some of my people are trying to find someone who does.”
Sabrina watched as Jorge’s arm flashed again to shadow and back. It seemed unconsciousness didn’t give him any kind of relief.
The man had already been through so much pain. He didn’t deserve this. Her eyes started to water, but she caught herself and took a deep breath. Emotions could kill in the heat of a takedown. She needed to focus if she wanted to give Jorge the best chance at
living.
She looked at Santos. “Since Jorge can’t anonymously drop Watkins at the door of a local Feiru enforcer’s office, we’re going to need to think of something else. Can any of your people manage it?”
Santos shook her head. “DEFEND is technically an illegal organization. Some enforcers are lenient as long as we don’t blatantly break any laws in front of them, but the enforcers in Merida are sticklers. Our best bet is for you to call your office and have them cart Watkins off.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “How do you know about my office?”
Santos’s gaze was steady. “Because I needed to know. Don’t worry, I’m not going to out you. You helped my people, and for that, you’ve earned some respect.”
Sabrina looked down at Jorge. She had planned to run with him after turning in Watkins. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it would’ve given them time to try to find her a way out of being relocated by her boss.
But that plan had been replaced with a new one. She needed to give Santos time to try to find a way to stop the random shifting, which meant she was going to have to call her boss to clean up this mess. She’d have to stay until they arrived to make sure Watkins didn’t get away. No doubt they’d lock her up afterward, once they discovered her cover had been blown.
As much as she wanted her freedom, Jorge’s life was more important. She had no other choice but to sacrifice what future she might’ve had with him in order to save him.
She looked back up at Santos. “Can you give me your word that you’ll look after him?”
Santos nodded. “I’ll oversee his transport myself, and I’ll find a way to contact you once we know what’s wrong with him.”
Sabrina was more aware of what wasn’t being said rather than what was—Santos couldn’t guarantee he’d live, but she’d let Sabrina know what happened regardless.
Of course, if Sabrina contacted her office, it was more than likely they’d relocate her and she’d never know what happened to Jorge. But if it meant Jorge at least had a chance, she would do it.
She nodded and pulled out her burner cell phone. Before she dialed, she said, “You might want to start getting your people out of here. The Feiru Liaison office will probably arrest all of you if given the opportunity.”
Santos nodded and motioned some people over to where Jorge was lying on the ground. Sabrina waited until he flashed back to flesh before she risked caressing his cheek and said, “You’d better survive, Jorge Salazar. I have a thing or two to discuss with you.”
Santos gave her an apologetic look and said, “Sabrina, we need you to move so we can try to transport him.”
She gave one last long look at Jorge and nodded before she stood up and moved to a quiet corner away from the noise of the DEFEND soldiers’ retreat. She kept Watkins in her sight—he was still unconscious with his hands secured behind his back with plastic ties—and watched as Santos and the others fashion a stretcher out of an old blanket. Thankfully, the blanket didn’t turn into shadow when he did. The next time she saw Jorge—she would see him again—she’d have to ask him about that.
When Santos and her team hoisted Jorge up and walked away, Sabrina turned on her phone and dialed her boss’s number.
It had been foolish to hope, but it looked like Neena’s promise to keep her from being relocated had been a lie.
Chapter Thirteen
Jorge’s eyes popped open as he drew in a deep gasp.
Bright lights. Pain. Noise.
Everything jumbled together inside his head, and he tried to concentrate. But the pain coursing through every nerve in his body was so overwhelming a part of him just wanted to die. He’d do just about anything to make it go away.
Isabel Santos’s face came into view and she frowned down at him and said, “I need you to stay awake and concentrate for me. After the next partial shift, we’re going to try to remove the knife in your thigh. We think that is what’s causing your uncontrollable shifting.”
“How can a—” He flashed from flesh to shadow and back again. The pain was worse than he remembered from before, but somehow he managed not to scream.
When he was solid again, he managed between pants to say, “I can’t take much more of this. Let me go back to sleep. Please.”
“I’d never thought I’d see you ask for anything nicely, but no, you can’t. Whatever substance coats that knife will probably kill you. The sooner we get it out, the sooner we can try to neutralize the effects.”
He wondered how she knew so much about medicine, but a different realization hit him. “Where’s Sabrina? Is she safe?”
Santos nodded. “She’s fine. And if you ever want to see Sabrina Ono again, you’re going to do as I say.”
A small sense of relief flooded him, but then he felt another shift coming on and he focused on that. “It’s going to happen again. Tell me what to do.”
“Okay. Right after the shift, use every bit of energy you have to keep yourself solid. It’s imperative that we get the knife out of you to keep you alive. After all, you can’t get into Ono’s pants if you’re dead.”
He wanted to flip his middle finger, but he wasn’t about to waste what precious energy he had, so he let it go. He could piss off Santos later.
He let the shift happen and clenched his jaw against the pain. As soon as he was flesh again, he used every last bit of his energy to imagine himself solid. He could feel his body wanting to break down, but he pushed it back. He wanted to see Sabrina again and to do that he needed to live.
Someone started pulling the knife out of his leg. The pain was unlike anything he’d ever experienced, as if someone were squeezing his heart with a clamp; he gripped the sheets with his hands as he groaned through his clenched teeth. Once the blade was free, the driving need to shift his body into shadow lessened at the same time as an excruciating flash of pain coursed through his body. Before anyone in the room could say a word, the world went dark again.
Sabrina stared out the sole window in her room and wondered for the thousandth time if Jorge was still alive. After her phone call back at the takedown site, her boss had taken Watkins and led a team to bust the other high-ranking members of the Fed League scattered across Mexico. For all intents and purposes, the Fed League was no more, at least in Mexico.
She should take some satisfaction in knowing that her undercover assignment had been a success, but unlike when she’d finished her job in Rio two years ago, Sabrina was anything but happy. And it wasn’t just because of not knowing what had happened to Jorge.
The room where she sat might look like a hotel room, but in reality, it was her prison cell. She’d been sequestered here for the last two days while the higher-ups decided what to do with her since her identity had been compromised. True, Watkins and the Fed League in the area were gone, but the mysterious Collector woman was a constant threat. Especially since the Feiru Liaison office had never heard of her before Sabrina’s report.
In all likelihood, she would soon be relocated. She’d never be able to see Jorge or her sister ever again.
The lock clicked and her door opened to reveal one of the rookie Feiru Liaison officers who’d been assigned as her guard. She’d seen his face around before he’d become her guard, but she didn’t know his name, and since she didn’t really care, she hadn’t asked.
The man motioned for her to come and said, “Marquez and Garcia want to see you.”
She stood up and followed the man down the hallway. Jose Garcia was the head honcho of the Mexico City office. No doubt they’d be telling her about her future today.
They arrived at one of the meeting rooms and her guard motioned her inside. Sabrina stepped into the room and nearly did a double take at who was sitting at the table. Marquez and Garcia were there, but so was Neena Chatterjee.
Neena gave her a small wave and said, “Come in, my dear.” She motioned to the seat across from her. “I saved you a cookie.”
Sabrina snapped out of her disbelief and took the seat. Sure enough, there was
a cookie sitting on a napkin, but she wasn’t hungry. Instead, she looked from Neena to Marquez to Garcia. DEFEND wasn’t exactly a designated enemy, but neither was it an ally. She asked, “Anyone want to tell me what’s going on here?”
Her boss, Marquez, gestured toward Neena. “Ms. Chatterjee here has been in deep talks and negotiations with us over the last two days, and we’ve come to an agreement.”
She raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but be sarcastic. “Oh really. Did she promise to save the world? Or give you the information you need to catch one of your most wanted Feiru criminals?”
Marquez opened his mouth, but Neena beat him to it. “We have made a temporary agreement to work together. Someone is circulating nasty rumors about my organization, and I’m out to prove to Mr. Garcia here that the rumors aren’t true.”
“And what does this have to do with me?”
Neena waved for Garcia to tell her. The head of the Feiru Liaison office didn’t look pleased at the gesture, but he looked at Sabrina and said, “We had originally slotted you to be relocated, to protect both you and our office. However, thanks to Ms. Chatterjee here, you have a second option.”
Anything that involved working with Neena would be a headache, but it could give her a chance at freedom and finding out if Jorge was still alive. “What does it require me to do?”
Garcia looked to Neena, but she didn’t say anything, so he continued. “You will be our trial go-between. You’ll spend most of your time working with DEFEND—that will make it easier to hide your identity—but you will periodically report to Marquez, as well as take requests from him to pass on to Ms. Chatterjee and others inside DEFEND. Technically, you will still be working for me, but Ms. Chatterjee has the final say in what you can do and with whom you can interact with.”
Neena Chatterjee in charge of her life. Fantastic. “And what happens if the temporary trial period doesn’t go well? What happens to me then?”
Shadow of Temptation (Asylums for Magical Threats #2.5) Page 10